Antioxidant enzyme activities following acute or chronic methylphenidate treatment in young rats

Methylphenidate (MPH) is psychostimulants used to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and can lead to a long-lasting neurochemical and behavioral adaptations in experimental animals. In the present study, the cerebral antioxidant enzymatic system, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) was evaluated at in different age following MPH (1, 2 or 10 mg/kg MPH, i.p.) treatment in young rats. In the acute treatment the SOD activity decreased in the cerebral prefrontal cortex with opposite effect in the cerebral cortex; and the CAT activity decreased in hippocampus. In the chronic treatment the SOD activity increased in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex and decreased in the striatum. The observed changes on the enzyme activities in rat brain were dependent on the structure brain region and duration of treatment with MPH. Probably, the activity of enzymes was not be enough to prevent MPH-induced oxidative damage in specific regions from brain, such as observed for us in another recent study.