Integrating neural, neurochemical and molecular mechanisms of impulse control

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Impulsivity is both a beneficial and detrimental human characteristic, allowing us to seize a valuable opportunity or to make a disastrous decision we live to regret. A high level of impulsivity is a key symptom in psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Improving our understanding of the biological basis of impulsivity could provide valuable insight into the nature of these illnesses. Recent evidence suggests that the neurotransmitter noradrenaline may be important in the regulation of impulsivity, and novel drugs which modulate the activity of this system may offer alternatives to stimulant medication for AD/HD. Increases in noradrenergic activity have also been shown to trigger mania in bipolar patients. We have recently found that the drug yohimbine, which increases noradrenaline levels in the brain, also increases impulsive responding in rats. We intend to determine which noradrenergic receptors in which brain regions are responsible for effecting this change in impulsive behaviour. We wish to use this knowledge, together with what is known regarding the effects of other pharmacological agents active at different neurotransmitter systems, in order to understand how drugs which alter impulse control may converge on similar intracellular signaling pathways. Such information could generate a "molecular footprint" for impulsivity, linking behaviour to molecular biology, which could in time open up new avenues for therapeutic treatment for impulse control disorders.