Enhanced Dopamine Release with Amphetamine in Adults with ADHD

Although attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is thought to be linked to dysregulation of dopamine, the nature of the abnormality and how it might relate to the effectiveness of stimulant treatment remain unclear. In a placebo-controlled, crossover study, researchers used positron emission tomography to examine striatal dopamine release (measured by change in dopamine receptor binding) before and after a single dose of d-amphetamine in 15 treatment-naive men with ADHD and 18 healthy men.

With d-amphetamine, patients showed an exaggerated release of dopamine in associative and sensorimotor striatal areas, compared with that seen in controls. In both groups, the degree of release correlated both with self-reported severity of inatte…