Posted on 12/09/2003 12:39:30 PM PST by GluteusMax
Dec. 8, 2003 -- Ritalin use in preteen children may lead to depression later in life, studies of rats suggest.
It's an open question whether what passes for depression in lab rats has anything to do with depression in humans. But early use of Ritalin and other stimulant drugs seems to permanently alter animals' brains. That raises concerns that the same thing might be happening in children who take these drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The findings come from a research team led by William A. Carlezon Jr., PhD, director of the behavioral genetics laboratory at McLean Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. The study appears in the Dec. 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry.
"Rats exposed to Ritalin as juveniles showed large increases in learned-helplessness behavior during adulthood, suggesting a tendency toward depression," Carlezon says in a news release. "These rats also showed abnormally high levels of activity in familiar environments. [This] might reflect basic alterations in the way rats pay attention to their surroundings."
Ritalin, Cocaine, and the Brain
Ritalin and cocaine have different effects on humans. But their effects on the brain are very similar. When given to preteen rats, both drugs cause long-term changes in behavior.
One of the changes seems good. Early exposure to Ritalin makes rats less responsive to the rewarding effects of cocaine. But that's not all good. It might mean that the drug short-circuits the brain's reward system. That would make it difficult to experience pleasure -- a "hallmark symptom of depression," Carlezon and colleagues note.
The other change seems all bad. Early exposure to Ritalin increases rats' depressive-like responses in a stress test.
"These experiments suggest that preadolescent exposure to [Ritalin] in rats causes numerous complex behavioral adaptations, each of which endures into adulthood," Carlezon and colleagues conclude. "This work highlights the importance of a more thorough understanding of the enduring neurobiological effects of juvenile exposure to psychotropic drugs."
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| "The third study found adult rats chronically exposed to Ritalin before adolescence were less responsive to natural rewards, such as sugar and sex, and more sensitive to stressful situations. The adult rats also demonstrated increased anxiety behaviors and enhanced blood levels of stress hormones." |
Thought you might be interested.......a potentially extremely important development as I'm sure you know. This avenue needs to be explored for other types of drugs as well. Unfortunately, there will be hell to pay getting this followed up on.
The idea that stressors can cause long term changes in stress responses is not new; Holocaust survivors were found to have unusual stress hormone responses 50 years after those days.
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If people don't want their kids to use illegal drugs, why do so many parents abuse legal drugs?
Wasn't aware of that. From the news reports I've seen, only one of the studies, the Carlezon study, even mentioned dosage and that was identified as low dosage. Guess I'll have to go read these things. Been meaning to anyway.
The idea that stressors can cause long term changes in stress responses is not new; Holocaust survivors were found to have unusual stress hormone responses 50 years after those days.
Understand that, but the idea that childhood use of drugs like Ritalin, or any other psychiatric drug for that matter, can cause long term changes in stress response is not only new, it's damn near heretical for the psych drug business.
Not to mention the possibility that if this kind of research were HONESTLY followed up on, serious psychiatric conditions such as psychotic depression -- which have been linked to chronically elevated levels of stress hormones -- might be tied to the use of psychiatric drugs in childhood. This is the kind of research on the long-term impact of drugs like Ritalin that needs to be done, which is probably why it never will be.
I guess only children of Democrats take Ritalin.
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