There is also another possible link: some individuals with ADHD display learning disabilities. Similarly, researchers from Pennsylvania State University-who collaborated on the Neuron study-have shown previously that flies with the same dopamine receptor mutation are unable to learn to associate a particular odor with an electric shock, and do not avoid the odor when subsequently tested. (Flies without the mutation quickly learn to make the association.)

It is often assumed that because individuals with ADHD are hyperactive and easily distracted, they have difficulty learning. The Caltech group showed, however, that hyperactivity and learning disabilities are not causally related in flies bearing the dopamine receptor mutation, thereby disproving the theory-at least in flies.

"We could separately 'rescue' the hyperactivity and learning deficits in a completely independent manner," says Anderson, "by genetically restoring the dopamine receptor to different regions of the fly's brain."

Thus, in dopamine-receptor-mutant flies, hyperactivity does not seem to cause learning deficits. Instead, these two "symptoms" reflect independent effects of the mutation that manifest themselves in distinct brain regions. "Being able to observe and manipulate the different neural substrates for learning and arousal will hopefully give us a unique method for identifying new molecular pathways that could be investigated and validated in higher organisms," says Lebestky.

This finding in flies, notes Anderson, raises the possibility that hyperactivity and learning deficits also may not be causally linked in humans with ADHD. If so, he says, it ultimately may prove more effective to develop drugs to treat these two symptoms separately, rather than trying to cure them both with the broad-spectrum pharmaceuticals currently available, which have many undesirable side effects.

"The finding that flies exhibit emotion-like behaviors that are controlled by some of the same brain chemicals as in humans opens up the possibility of applying the powerful genetics of this 'model organism' to understanding how these chemicals influence behavior through their actions on specific brain circuits," says Anderson. "While the specific details of where and how this occurs are likely to be different in flies and in humans, the basic principles are likely to be evolutionarily conserved, and may aid in our understanding of what goes wrong in disorders such as ADHD."

Source: California Institute of Technology