Attention Network Hypoconnectivity With Default and Affective Network Hyperconnectivity in Adults Diagnosed With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Childhood

Abstract

The neurobiological underpinnings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and particularly those associated with the persistence of ADHD into adulthood are not yet well understood. The correlation patterns in spontaneous neural fluctuations at rest are known as resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and could characterize ADHD-specific connectivity changes. OBJECTIVE To determine the specific location of possible ADHD-related differences in RSFC between adults diagnosed as having ADHD in childhood and control subjects. DESIGN Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we calculated and compared functional connectivity from attention, affective, default, and cognitive control networks involved in the psychopathology of ADHD between the ADHD and control groups. SETTING University psychiatric service and magnetic resonance imaging research center. PARTICIPANTS Sixteen drug-free adults (5 women and 11 men; mean age, 24.5 years) diagnosed with combined-type ADHD in childhood and 16 healthy controls matched for age (mean age, 24.4 years), sex, handedness, and educational level recruited from the community. INTERVENTION Functional magnetic resonance imaging. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Connectivity data from ventral and dorsal attention, affective, default, and cognitive control networks and ADHD symptoms derived from ADHD-specific rating instruments. RESULTS Adults with ADHD showed significantly decreased RSFC within the attention networks and increased RSFC within the affective and default mode and the right lateralized cognitive control networks compared with healthy controls (P < .01, familywise error for whole-brain cluster correction). Lower RSFC in the ventral and dorsal attention network was significantly correlated with higher levels of ADHD symptoms (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These RSFC findings might underpin a biological basis for adult ADHD and are functionally related to persistent inattention, disturbance in cognitive control, and emotional dysregulation in adults with ADHD. These findings need to be understood in the context of all aspects of brain function in ADHD.

Inter-hemispherical asymmetry in default-mode functional connectivity and BAIAP2 gene are associated with anger expression in ADHD adults

“…Functional deficits of the ventral attentional network (including the supramarginal and angular gyri) are well known in ADHD (Helenius et al, 2011;Cortese et al, 2012;McCarthy et al, 2013;McLeod et al, 2014) and right-ward hyperactivation of the angular gyrus (Cortese et al, 2012) and a left-ward hypoactivation of the ventral attention system (McCarthy et al, 2013) were previously observed in ADHD adults and could be in line with our connectivity results.…”

Altered intrinsic organisation of brain networks implicated in attentional processes in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting-state study of attention, default mode and salience network connectivity

“…The field has produced inconsistent results in this regard. While most studies have reported reduced DMN connectivity [37,38,44,62], hyperconnectivity has also been observed [40,41] (and one study found hyperconnectivity for some regions and hypoconnectivity for others within the DMN [65]. These inconsistencies may be due to differences between studies in analysis techniques used or sample characteristics.…”

“…In the current paper we provide the first test of this hypothesis by exploring the intrinsic organization of DMN, DAN, VAN and SN and their interactions in adults with ADHD by evaluating patterns of BOLD signal correlations measured during rest [32,35,36]. Prior resting state studies have found reduced connectivity in ADHD between DMN regions [37][38][39]; for opposite findings see Tian et al, [40], McCarthy 5 et al, [41], as well as altered organisation of DAN and VAN [21,41,42]. However, no study has directly explored connectivity within and between the DMN, DAN, VAN and SN in ADHD.…”

Dysregulation between emotion and theory of mind networks in borderline personality disorder

“…Correlation maps were produced by extracting the BOLD time course from a seed region (10-mm sphere each), and then computing the correlation coefficient between that time course and the time course from all other brain voxels. Based on data from previous connectivity studies (Fox et al, 2006;Sheline et al, 2010;McCarthy et al, 2013), the left and right subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; 7x ¼ 10, y¼ 35, z ¼2) was extracted as the seed region of interest from the affective network that was modulated between ToM trials and NULL events; and the left and right precuneus ( 7x ¼7, y¼ À60, z ¼ 21) as the seed region of interest in the DMN during NULL events. Thus, the DMN was modulated during rest (NULL events) and the ToM network was modulated by functional variation in ToM and NULL events.…”

“…As a result, it has been identified as an important region in the study of the psychopathology of various disorders typified by emotion dysregulation (Stevens et al, 2011). Furthermore, the ACC is known as a good seed region to investigate the affective network (Sheline et al, 2010;McCarthy et al, 2013). The second part of the study addressed the gap in research on the DMN in BPD patients by mapping the functional connectivity corresponding to the precuneus seed region within the DMN in a sample of BPD patients compared with healthy controls during resting state.…”