Inducing a Functional-Pharmacological Coupling in the Human Brain to Achieve Improved Drug Effect

Copyright © 2020 Sar-El, Sharon, Lubianiker, Hendler and Raz..

Neuropharmacotherapy is substantially hindered by poor drug targeting, resulting in low specificity and efficacy. It is known that different behavioral tasks increase functional activity and cerebral blood flow (CBF), two key parameters controlling drug delivery and efficacy. Here, we tested a novel, non-invasive drug targeting approach (termed functional-pharmacological coupling), which couples drug administration with a task that is known to specifically activate the drug's sites-of-action in the brain. In two studies we administered Methylphenidate (MPH) to neurotypical adults and to subjects with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In study 1 we employed a within-subject factorial design and found that only following MPH administration, subjects that performed better in the cognitive induction task showed greater improvements in N-back performance. Moreover, only under MPH-Cognitive induction condition, this improvement correlated with concurrent N-Back rDLPFC activation. In Study 2, subjects with ADHD performed better on sustained attention when MPH administration was followed by a cognitive challenge rather than a control task. Again, those who were more attentive to the cognitive challenge scored higher. Our results provide preliminary support for the feasibility of functional-pharmacological coupling concept, hence opening a new horizon for patient-tailored, context-driven drug therapy.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:14

Enthalten in:

Frontiers in neuroscience - 14(2020) vom: 01., Seite 557874

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Sar-El, Roy [VerfasserIn]
Sharon, Haggai [VerfasserIn]
Lubianiker, Nitzan [VerfasserIn]
Hendler, Talma [VerfasserIn]
Raz, Gal [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

ADHD
Brain
Drug delivery
Functional pharmacology
Journal Article
Methylphenidate

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 07.11.2020

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.3389/fnins.2020.557874

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM317228390