Effects of methylphenidate on resting-state brain activity in normal adults: an fMRI study

Abstract

Methylphenidate (MPH) is one of the most commonly used stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although several studies have evaluated the effects of MPH on human brain activation during specific cognitive tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), few studies have focused on spontaneous brain activity. In the current study, we investigated the effect of MPH on the intra-regional synchronization of spontaneous brain activity during the resting state in 18 normal adult males. A handedness questionnaire and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale were applied before medication, and a resting-state fMRI scan was obtained 1 h after medication (20 mg MPH or placebo, order counterbalanced between participants). We demonstrated that: (1) there were no significant differences in the performance of behavioral tasks between the MPH and placebo groups; (2) the left middle and superior temporal gyri had stronger MPHrelated regional homogeneity (ReHo); and (3) the left lingual gyrus had weaker MPH-related ReHo. Our findings showed that the ReHo in some brain areas changes with MPH compared to placebo in normal adults, even though there are no behavioral differences. This method can be applied to patients with mental illness who may be treated with MPH, and be used to compare the difference between patients taking MPH and normal participants, to help reveal the mechanism of how MPH works.

Regional homogeneity abnormalities in patients with tensiontype headache: a resting-state fMRI study

“…This total cohort included 10 males and 10 females, mean age 32.3 ± 9.3 years (range, 23-57), with 13.3 ± 3.9 years of formal education (range, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and a mean Montreal Cognitive Assessment Table 2.…”

The effects of methylphenidate on resting-state striatal, thalamic and global functional connectivity in healthy adults

“…In children with ADHD, methylphenidate increased and decreased regional homogeneity, a measure of functional connectivity of local in contrast to surrounding voxels, each in bilateral ventral prefrontal cortex/cerebellar vermis and right parietal/visual cortices (An et al, 2013). Methylphenidate also increased regional homogeneity (Zhu et al, 2013) but has otherwise not been studied for its effects on resting-state functional connectivity in healthy adults.…”

Dissociable Effects of Antipsychotics on Ketamine-Induced Changes in Regional Oxygenation and Inter-Regional Coherence of Low Frequency Oxygen Fluctuations in the Rat

“…Identification of resting-state networks and descriptions of their modification and dysfunction in disease states have encouraged cross-species study of pharmacological modulation of regional functional connectivity (Zhu et al, 2013;Gass et al, 2013), notably in the context of translational biomarkers of psychosis and antipsychotic efficacy. In this regard, the uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine (Anis et al, 1983;Lodge and Johnson, 1990) can be used in humans and animals to induce behavioral change bearing resemblance to psychosis (eg, Krystal et al, 1994;Malhotra et al, 1996, Moghaddam et al, 1997) that, in humans at least, concomitantly changes regional brain activity and coherence across different resting state networks.…”