Brain Scans Reveal Drugs' Effects On Attention

Scientists have developed a way to evaluate new treatments for some forms of attention deficit disorder. Working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed that they can use brain scans to quickly test whether drugs increase levels of a brain chemical known as dopamine.

In a study published last year, the same group found that raising dopamine levels in mice alleviates attention deficits caused by neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a condition that affects more than 100,000 people in the United States. Approximately 60 percent to 80 percent of children with NF1 have some type of attention deficit problem.

"Many kids with NF1 really struggle in school, and finding ways to help alleviate attention problems is a high priority," says David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology. "The technique we've refined may make it possible to match specific treatments to the patients with NF1 and attention deficit who are most likely to benefit from those treatments."

The results appear online in Experimental Neurology.

Symptoms of NF1-related attention deficits are similar to those that affect children in the general population. But it's unclear whether the brain changes that underlie these problems in children with NF1 are similar to the brain changes that cause attention deficits in the general population.

"This mouse model may not be a perfect model for all forms of attention deficit, but it is a terrific model for one type of attention system dysfunction," Gutmann says. "Greater understanding of what goes wrong in some children with NF1 could lead to new insights into a broader variety of attention problems."

Gutmann is director of the Washington University Neurofibromatosis (NF) Center, a national referral center for patients with all forms of neurofibromatosis. The center is active in basic science research and clinical trials, with the goal of developing innovative new approaches for treating patients with NF.