Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of TC-5619 in Adults With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2011-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
ADHD has been associated with persistent deficits in the efficient allocation of attention
and supports the notion that regulation of the cholinergic system may improve these cognitive
deficits in ADHD. It has been suggested that the effects of nicotine are most pronounced on
tasks that demand effortful processing (Rusted and Warburton 1994). In addition, a recent
theory proposes that the cholinergic system allocates additional attentional resources during
tasks that are demanding (i.e. sustained attention, set shifting, etc; Sarter and Bruno
1997). Thus it may be that in ADHD, cholinergic systems are under-responsive or
under-developed and thus stimulation of nicotinic receptors via nicotinic agents may result
in improved cognitive performance particularly on tests requiring effortful processing.