No evidence exists at present to support the use of amphetamine after stroke .
INTRODUCTION The use of drugs to enhance recovery ( " rehabilitation pharmacology " ) has been assessed .
Amphetamine can improve outcome in experimental models of stroke , and several small clinical trials have assessed its use in stroke .
Modification of practice-dependent plasticity in human motor cortex by neuromodulators.
Practice -dependent plasticity underlies motor learning in everyday life and motor relearning after lesions of the nervous system . Previous studies showed that practice -dependent plasticity is modifiable by neuromodulating transmitters such as norepinephrine ( NE ) , dopamine ( DA ) or acetylcholine ( ACh ) . Here we explored , for the first time comprehensively and systematic ally , the modifying effects of an agonist versus antagonist in each of these neuromodulating transmitter systems on practice -dependent plasticity in healthy subjects in a  placebo-controlled , r and omized , double-blind crossover design . We found that the agonists in all three neuromodulating transmitter systems ( NE : methylpheni date ; DA : cabergoline ; ACh : tacrine ) enhanced practice -dependent plasticity , whereas the antagonists decreased it ( NE : prazosin ; DA : haloperidol ; ACh : biperiden ) . Enhancement of plasticity under methylpheni date and tacrine was associated with an increase in corticomotoneuronal excitability of the prime mover of the practice , as measured by the motor evoked potential amplitude , but with a decrease under cabergoline . Our findings demonstrate that agonists and antagonists in various neuromodulating transmitter systems produce significant and oppositely directed modifications of practice -dependent plasticity in human motor cortex . Enhancement of plasticity occurred through different strategies that either favoured extrinsic ( NE , ACh ) or intrinsic ( DA ) modulating influence on the motor cortical output network
No evidence exists at present to support the use of amphetamine after stroke .
INTRODUCTION The use of drugs to enhance recovery ( " rehabilitation pharmacology " ) has been assessed .
Amphetamine can improve outcome in experimental models of stroke , and several small clinical trials have assessed its use in stroke .