# The effects of Methylphenidate on Brain Metabolomics and Behavioral Outcomes in a Rat Model of Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury

> **NIH NIH R03** · CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR · 2020 · $159,666

## Abstract

Abstract/summary
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability in both the short term and the long term. There are
few evidence-based treatment options for long-term TBI disability, but some medications, such as
methylphenidate, are commonly used in clinical settings. Methylphenidate improves symptoms of chronic TBI,
including attention deficits, cognitive disability, and fatigue, in some patients. But it is not yet possible to
predict which patients are most likely to benefit from methylphenidate or other pharmaceuticals used in
chronic TBI. This is at least in part because the pathophysiology of TBI-related disability is not well
understood. However, metabolic changes occurring early after TBI are known to underlie at least part of the
dysfunction that occurs acutely. Our pilot data from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics
studies reveal evidence of lasting changes in brain metabolism in resting animals with chronic TBI. The
presence of this dysregulation suggests that lasting changes in brain metabolism could contribute to chronic
TBI pathology. Clinical evidence also supports an interaction between brain metabolism and efficacy of
medications including methylphenidate. However, the nature of this interaction is not yet clear, and it is not
known how the chronically injured brain responds metabolically to behavioral testing or to medications. This is
an important question, because a better understanding of how medications or other interventions affect brain
metabolism could lead to a better ability to predict and monitor response to treatment. We hypothesize that
long-term metabolic derangement in TBI contributes to chronic functional deficits. We further predict that
treatment with methylphenidate will alleviate some functional deficits, and restore brain metabolism toward a
normal pattern. We propose two aims to test this hypothesis, and to develop better methods for investigating
brain metabolism. Aim 1 will determine the effects of methylphenidate on the metabolic response to brain
injury and behavioral testing in chronically injured animals. Aim 2 will establish a protocol for isotopic labeling
of metabolic products in experimental animals in our chronic TBI model to allow more detailed analysis of
metabolic changes in chronic TBI. These studies will also allow us to analyze the correlation between
behavioral performance to defects in metabolic pathways. At the successful conclusion of these studies, we will
have determined the effect of methylphenidate on brain metabolism in chronic TBI, and on the injured brain's
metabolic response to behavioral testing. We will also have developed expertise in a method for more deeply
probing metabolic changes in TBI or other disease states. The results of these investigations will provide a
foundation of preliminary data for future studies designed to develop use of the metabolic state of the brain as
a biomarker for TBI pathology, and for prediction and monitoring of tre...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9839651
- **Project number:** 5R03HD097689-02
- **Recipient organization:** CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Nathan K Evanson
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $159,666
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9839651

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9839651, The effects of Methylphenidate on Brain Metabolomics and Behavioral Outcomes in a Rat Model of Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury (5R03HD097689-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9839651. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*