Modeling ADHD-type arousal with unilateral frontal cortex damage in rats and beneficial effects of play therapy. Brain Cogn 2003 Jun;52(1):97-105
Date
06/19/2003Pubmed ID
12812809DOI
10.1016/s0278-2626(03)00013-7Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0038616026 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 66 CitationsAbstract
It has been recently shown that human adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have frontal lobe deficits, especially on the right sides of their brains (). ADHD is commonly treated with psychostimulants which may have adverse consequences. Hence, less invasive therapies need to be developed. In the present work, we tested the ability of right frontal lesions to induce hyperactivity in rats. We also evaluated the effects of chronic play therapy during early adolescence to reduce both hyperactivity and the elevated playfulness later in development. Play therapy was able to reduce both hyperactivity and excessive playfulness. In additional work, we found that access to rough-and-tumble play in normal animals could enhance subsequent behavioral indices of behavioral inhibition (i.e., freezing in response to a startle stimulus) that appeared to be independent of increased fearfulness and fatigue. Overall, these results suggest that (1) neonatal frontal lobe lesions can be used as an animal model of the overactivity in ADHD and (2) rough-and-tumble play therapy may be a new useful treatment for ADHD.
Author List
Panksepp J, Burgdorf J, Turner C, Gordon NAuthor
Nakia Gordon BS,MA,PhD Assistant Professor in the Psychology department at Marquette UniversityMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsArousal
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
Disease Models, Animal
Female
Frontal Lobe
Functional Laterality
Male
Play Therapy
Random Allocation
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
