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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Sep 28;77(11):940–950. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.09.013

Fig 5. Cognition-enhancing effects of methylphenidate (MPH) involve actions within the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

Fig 5

Shown are the effects of intra-PFC infusion of MPH on performance in a test of working memory expressed as percent change from baseline (mean ± SEM). Top Panels: Infusion of methylphenidate into the dmPFC (A) but not vmPFC (B) improved working memory in an inverted-U dose-dependent manner, with 0.125 µg/hemisphere producing maximal improvement. The magnitude of MPH-induced improvement in performance was comparable to that seen with systemic administration of clinically relevant doses (see Figure 1). Note that doses 4 and 16-fold higher than an optimal dose infused into the dmPFC do not impair performance as seen with systemic administration. Bottom Panels: Schematic diagram indicating all 0.125 µg infusion sites into the dmPFC (A) and vmPFC (B). Numbers represent anterior-posterior (AP) level (data from [Swanson]). *P<0.05 relative to vehicle treatment. dAcg, dorsal anterior cingulate; IL, infralimbic; PL, prelimbic.