Structural abnormality of the substantia nigra in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
BACKGROUND
Structural abnormality of the substantia nigra can be detected by transcranial sonography in neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson disease and restless legs syndrome. We investigated echogenicity of the substantia nigra as a potential structural marker for dysfunction of the nigrostriatal dopamine system in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).


METHODS
We used a blinded design and determined echogenicity of the substantia nigra by use of transcranial sonography in 22 children with ADHD and 22 healthy controls matched for age and sex.


RESULTS
The echogenic substantia nigra area was significantly larger in ADHD patients than in healthy controls (F(1,42) = 9.298, p = 0.004, effect size = 0.92). We found no effects of age or sex.


CONCLUSIONS
Owing to a lack of dimensional assessment, we could not analyze the correlation between echogenicity and clinical symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the hypothesis that the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system is abnormal in children with ADHD.
Romanos
Marcel
M
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany. romanos@kjp.uni-wuerzburg.de
Weise
David
D
Schliesser
Mira
M
Schecklmann
Martin
M
Löffler
Julia
J
Warnke
Andreas
A
Gerlach
Manfred
M
Classen
Joseph
J
Mehler-Wex
Claudia
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D012737:Sex Factors; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial