title: Saccade eye movements as a quantitative measure of frontostriatal network in children with ADHD.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence of poor inhibition in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comes primarily from neuropsychological tasks and neuroimaging studies, many of which have revealed structural/functional abnormalities of the frontostriatal network with opposing functions of disinhibition and inhibition. Studies of saccades have therefore contributed to the understanding of the pathophysiological basis of ADHD.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the development of reflexive/voluntary control of saccades in normal children, compare saccade parameters between ADHD and control groups, and clarify dysfunctional nervous systems in ADHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects comprised 50 normal subjects (6-35 years), 19 ADHD patients (6-11 years) and four patients with frontal lesions (13-15 years). Saccade latency and accuracy were computed in all saccade tasks, while percentage of anticipatory errors (PAE) was determined in memory-guided saccade task, and percentage of direction errors (PDE) was determined in antisaccade task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In normal controls, significant correlations were observed between saccade latency, saccade accuracy, error rates and age. Significant differences existed between ADHD and 6- to 8-year-old controls in saccade latency and accuracy. The ADHD group showed significantly higher PAE and PDE rates than controls. Patients with frontal lesions showed significantly higher PAE and PDE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that saccade eye movements do not fully mature until adolescence, and that ADHD patients show dysfunction in "response inhibition", which is modulated by the frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex and basal ganglia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Yamanashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitama
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kanemura
authors.forename: Kakuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Kanji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugita
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aihara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult