Smart drugs pose special risks to thedeveloping brain of young people13 May 2014

Over a million American students misuseprescription drugs or take illegal stimulants toincrease their attention span, memory, andcapacity to stay awake. Such "smart drugs"become more and more popular due to peerpressure, stricter academic requirements, and thetight job market. But young people who misusethem risk long-term impairments to brain function,warn Kimberly Urban at the University of Delawareand Wen-Jun Gao at Drexel University College ofMedicine, USA, in a NIH-funded review publishedin the open-access journal Frontiers in SystemsNeuroscience.

The latest research on the potential lasting side-effects of the most important smart drugs on theuniquely delicate, developing brain of youngpeople was reviewed. It was found that any short-term boost in mental performance due to smartdrugs may come at a heavy cost: a long-termdecrease in brain plasticity, necessary for taskswitching, planning ahead, and adaptive flexibilityin behavior.

Special risks for young brains

Methylphenidate is the most popular smart drugamong kids today and often sold on the blackmarket. It was originally developed as aprescription-only drug (sold as Ritalin andConcerta) to treat ADHD, and works by increasingthe level of neurotransmitter in the nervous system.Around 1.3 million American teenagers misused orabused methylphenidate without prescription in theprevious month, according to The Partnership atDrugfree.org and the MetLife Foundation.

Trials on rats have shown that young, developingbrains are particularly sensitive tomethylphenidate: even low dosages early in lifecan reduce nerve activity, working memory, andthe ability to quickly switch between tasks andbehaviors. Such mental flexibility is important forcomplex motoric learning, interpersonal skills, and

work performance.

Another popular smart drug is modafinil, sold underthe name Proviigil against narcolepsy and othersleep disorders. Believed to work by raising thelevels of dopamine in between synapses of brainnerve cells, it can boost memory as well as theability to work with numbers and do other mentaltasks. But research indicates that modafinil couldhave similar long-term undesired effects asmethylphenidate on the developing brain.

New smart drugs also pose risks

Not yet widely used are ampakines, an emergingclass of drugs currently studied by the US militarywith the aim of increasing alertness in soldiers.Ampakines bind to so-called AMPA receptormolecules in the nervous system and boost theresponse of nerve cells and strengthen connectionsbetween them. Known to improve memory andcognition in rats and healthy humans volunteers,ampakines are often considered to be relativelysafe potential smart drugs. But they are not withoutdangers for young people: uncontrolled use mightover-excite the nervous system, damaging or killingnerve cells, caution the authors.

Many "known unknowns"

More research on the long-term effects ofmethylphenidate, modafinil, ampakines, and othersmart drugs, especially in young people, is urgentlyneeded, the authors caution.

"What's safe for adults is not necessarily safe forkids," warns Urban. "The human brain continues todevelop until our late twenties or early thirties.Young people are especially prone to abuse smartdrugs, but also more vulnerable to any side-effects.We simply don't know enough about the long-termeffects of these drugs on the developing brain toconclude they are safe."

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More information: Paper: journal.frontiersin.org/Journa ….2014.00038/abstract

Provided by FrontiersAPA citation: Smart drugs pose special risks to the developing brain of young people (2014, May 13)retrieved 17 February 2019 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-05-smart-drugs-pose-special-brain.html

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