Aberrant gray matter volumes and functional connectivity in adolescent patients with ADHD

Abstract

Background Altered gray matter (GM) volumes and functional connectivity (FC) happens in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients and the intelligence quotient (IQ) of ADHD patients is generally lower than healthy subjects, while few studies have focused on the association among the three. Purpose To investigate the abnormal changes of GM volumes and FC in ADHD patients compared with typically‐developing control (TD‐C), as well as the association between the changes and IQ. Study Type Case control. Population 36 ADHD patients and 36 TD‐C, aged 8–17. Field Strength/Sequence 3.0T/single shot echo planar imaging (EPI). Assessment Preprocessing of fMRI data and seed‐based FC calculation using DPABI4.0, and VBM was performed by CAT12. Statistical Tests Comparison between groups of smoothed GM volumes was performed using two‐sample t‐test within SPM 12, age and total intracranial volume (TIV) were returned as covariates. Comparison between groups of FCs was performed using a two‐sample t‐test within RESTplus; age was returned as a covariate. False discovery rate (FDR)‐corrected and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Compared with TD‐C, reduced GM volumes occurred in the left superior frontal gyrus (t = –3.61, P < 0.001), right middle frontal gyrus (t = –3.97, P < 0.001), left middle cingulum (t = –3.93, P < 0.001), and left cuneus (t = –4.42, P < 0.001). Decreased FC was found between the left precuneus and left middle cingulum (t = –5.86, P < 0.001), left middle temporal gyrus, and left superior frontal gyrus (t = –5.67, P < 0.001), as well as left medial superior frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus (t = –6.73, P < 0.001). Data Conclusion The results confirmed that FCs between the regions with declined GM volumes and others were altered in ADHD patients. We speculated that abnormal changes of GM volume and FC maybe used as an imaging metric of ADHD. Level of Evidence: 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 4 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:719–726.

Surface values, volumetric measurements and radiomics of structural MRI for the diagnosis and subtyping of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

“…Brain volumetric analyses show that the GM volume of patients with ADHD was 3% to 5% smaller than that of control subjects (Greven et al, 2015). ADHD has been associated with alterations in both GM volume and WM volume in previous studies (Greven et al, 2015;Zhao et al, 2020). However, Sun et al (2018) reported that no volume difference was found in WM and GM between patients with ADHD and TDCs.…”

“…However, the findings in these studies were inconsistent. Alterations in GM volume, surface area and inward deformation in different regions (such as the left frontal eye field, the left middle cingulum and left cuneus) were reported in patients with ADHD compared with typically developing controls (TDCs) by some groups (Lu et al, 2019; Tang et al, 2019; Zhao et al, 2020), whereas no difference was found in the local distribution of GM by other studies (Ulke et al, 2019).…”

“…A simultaneous delay in the development of cortical thickness and surface area suggests that there may be a global perturbation of cortical maturation in ADHD, as reported by the NIMH (n.d.) (Shaw et al, 2007(Shaw et al, , 2012. Some studies used region-of-interest (ROI)-based measurements or voxel-based methods (VBMs) to identify the specific brain structures and potential markers (such as grey matter [GM] volume, surface area and thickness) that are capable of diagnosing ADHD using statistical analysis (Brinson, 2014;Chen et al, 2013;Frodl & Skokauskas, 2012;Lu et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2020). However, the findings in these studies were inconsistent.…”

Structural and Functional Thalamic Changes in Parkinson's Disease With Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…Thus, there was no effect on the results of the FC analysis. There are also many studies that use datasets with different scan protocols …”

Effects of the SNAP25 on Integration Ability of Brain Functions in Children With ADHD

“…Furthermore, previous studies have shown that the volume of the precentral gyrus in patients with ADHD is significantly smaller than that of healthy children (Bralten et al, 2016), and the activation of this area is significantly reduced in the process of response inhibition (Lei et al, 2015). Zhao et al (2020) found that patients with ADHD had decreased volume of gray matter in the left superior frontal gyrus, and the functional connectivity between left medial superior frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus was significantly reduced compared to those of HCs. A recent dynamic analysis found that patients with ADHD showed significantly higher temporal variability in the left superior frontal gyrus (medial), left rectus gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule and angular gyrus (Zou & Yang, 2019).…”