title: Altered interregional molecular associations of the serotonin transporter in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder assessed with PET.
abstract: Altered serotonergic neurotransmission has been found to cause impulsive and aggressive behavior, as well as increased motor activity, all exemplifying key symptoms of ADHD. The main objectives of this positron emission tomography (PET) study were to investigate the serotonin transporter binding potential (SERT BPND) in patients with ADHD and to assess associations of SERT BPNDbetween the brain regions. 25 medication-free patients with ADHD (age ± SD; 32.39 ± 10.15; 10 females) without any psychiatric comorbidity and 25 age and sex matched healthy control subjects (33.74 ± 10.20) were measured once with PET and the highly selective and specific radioligand [11C]DASB. SERT BPNDmaps in nine a priori defined ROIs exhibiting high SERT binding were compared between groups by means of a linear mixed model. Finally, adopted from structural and functional connectivity analyses, we performed correlational analyses using regional SERT binding potentials to examine molecular interregional associations between all selected ROIs. We observed significant differences in the interregional correlations between the precuneus and the hippocampus in patients with ADHD compared to healthy controls, using SERT BPNDof the investigated ROIs (P < 0.05; Bonferroni corrected). When correlating SERT BPNDand age in the ADHD and the healthy control group, we confirmed an age-related decline in brain SERT binding in the thalamus and insula (R2= 0.284, R2= 0.167, Ps < 0.05; Bonferroni corrected). The results show significantly different interregional molecular associations of the SERT expression for the precuneus with hippocampus in patients with ADHD, indicating presumably altered functional coupling. Altered interregional coupling between brain regions might be a sensitive approach to demonstrate functional and molecular alterations in psychiatric conditions. Hum Brain Mapp 38:792-802, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Vanicek
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Kutzelnigg
authors: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Cecile
authors: C
authors: Philippe
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Helen L
authors: HL
authors: Sigurdardottir
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Gregory M
authors: GM
authors: James
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Hahn
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Georg S
authors: GS
authors: Kranz
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Höflich
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Kautzky
authors: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Tatjana
authors: T
authors: Traub-Weidinger
authors: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Hacker
authors: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Wadsak
authors: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Mitterhauser
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Siegfried
authors: S
authors: Kasper
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors: Rupert
authors: R
authors: Lanzenberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
keywords: ADHD; PET; SERT; interregional molecular associations; neuroimaging; positron emission tomography; serotonin