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The Effects Of Methylphenidate (Ritalin) On The Neurophysiology Of The Monkey Caudal Prefrontal Cortex, Sébastien Tremblay, Florian Pieper, Adam Sachs, Ridha Joober, Julio Martinez-Trujillo

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

© 2019 Tremblay et al. Methylphenidate (MPH), commonly known as Ritalin, is the most widely prescribed drug worldwide to treat patients with attention deficit disorders. Although MPH is thought to modulate catecholamine neurotransmission in the brain, it remains unclear how these neurochemical effects influence neuronal activity and lead to attentional enhancements. Studies in rodents overwhelmingly point to the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) as a main site of action of MPH. To understand the mechanism of action of MPH in a primate brain, we recorded the responses of neuronal populations using chronic multielectrode arrays implanted in the caudal LPFC of two …