title: Serotonin, aggression, and parental psychopathology in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationship between central serotonergic (5-HT) function and history of parental aggression in aggressive and nonaggressive boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
  
  
  METHODS
  History of psychiatric symptoms was assessed in the biological parents of 41 boys with ADHD. The relationship between 5-HT function in aggressive and nonaggressive probands, as assessed via the prolactin response to fenfluramine (FEN) challenge, and parental history of aggression was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aggressive boys with a parental history of aggressive behavior had a significantly lower prolactin response to FEN challenge than aggressive boys without a parental history of aggression. Nonaggressive boys had a prolactin response midway between those of the two aggressive subgroups, and their prolactin response did not vary as a function of parental aggression. Children subdivided on the basis of parental history of other psychiatric symptoms did not differ in their response to the FEN challenge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicate an association between parent aggressive behavior and lower 5-HT function in aggressive boys with ADHD but do not indicate the extent to which this association is environmentally and/or genetically transmitted. There may be different neurochemical mechanisms in familial and nonfamilial aggressive children, which have clinical implications for pharmacological interventions.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing 11367, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Halperin
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Newcorn
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kopstein
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Siever
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood; D012701:Serotonin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin; D011388:Prolactin