Neuroanatomical deficits correlate with executive dysfunction in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2015-07, Vol.600, p.45-49
• Main Authors: He, Ning, Li, Fei, Li, Yuanyuan, Guo, Lanting, Chen, Lizhou, Huang, Xiaoqi, Lui, Su, Gong, Qiyong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - pathology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Brain - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Child; Children and adolescents; Executive Function; Gray Matter - pathology; Gray matter volume; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Organ Size; Voxel-based morphometry
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2015.05.062

•Neuroanatomical deficits in male drug-naive ADHD children without comorbidity.•Reduced frontal gray matter volumes in ADHD.•Structural deficits correlated with executive dysfunction in ADHD. Previous structural imaging studies have revealed gray matter volume abnormalities to reflect the etiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), however, which are confounded by age, medication and comorbidity and also ignore the core feature of brain structure in the executive impairments of ADHD. In the present study, we explored gray matter volume abnormalities in male children and adolescents with ADHD who were drug-naive and without comorbidities, and tried to connect structural data and behavioral executive dysfunction to provide more information regarding the brain–behavior relationships in ADHD. Seventy-two male subjects (37 patients and 35 controls) underwent three-dimensional high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging and executive function assessments, including the Stroop Color–Word Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Voxel-based morphometry with diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated Lie algebra was used to identify gray matter volume differences between the ADHD and controls. Correlation analyses were performed to identify neuroanatomical deficits that were associated with executive dysfunctions. Significantly reduced gray matter volumes were identified in the right orbitofrontal cortex, right primary motor/premotor cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex and left posterior midcingulate cortex of ADHD patients compared with controls (P