Differences in brain networks of children with ADHD: Whole‐brain analysis of resting‐state fMRI

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate changes of functional connectivity (FC) in resting state networks (RSNs) in medication‐naive children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Twenty children with a diagnosis of ADHD (11.8 ± 2.29 years; 16 boys) and 20 age‐matched typically developing (TD) children (13 ± 1.78 years; 10 boys) were included. It was found that brain FC differences in children with ADHD are not only in the well known RSNs such as default mode, visual, sensory motor, attentional, frontal, central executive, and frontal networks but also involve interaction among whole brain functional networks. In addition, basal ganglia and cerebellum networks which later gained importance were examined in this study. All RSNs has been shown significant differences in special regions which belongs related RSN. The highest positive (HPC) and negative (HNC) correlation were calculated between 14 independent components including 11 different RSNs. We observed different FC changes (decreased/increased) according to the RSNs between ADHD and control children. The HPC was defined between the visual and cerebellum network in ADHD children and between the dorsal attentional network and sensory motor network in TD children. Also, the HNC was detected between the visual and basal ganglia network in both groups. Investigating intra and inter network FC could provide a framework to better understand the neural basis that underlies core symptom dimensions in ADHD.

Altered Variability and Concordance of Dynamic Resting-State fMRI Indices in Patients With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…Structural and functional alterations in occipital were also reported in previous studies. For example, reduced gray matter volume in the right middle occipital gyrus ( Wang L. J. et al, 2020 ) and hyper-activation of occipital lobe function was found in ADHD ( Tian et al, 2008 ; Icer et al, 2019 ), indicating that atypical visual processing may play a key role. Previous study also reported that the decreased connectivity between the frontal cortex and visual cortex was associated with increased severity in ADHD symptoms ( Wang M. et al, 2020 ).…”

Identifying ADHD-Related Abnormal Functional Connectivity with a Graph Convolutional Neural Network

“…Qualitative analyses of rs-fMRI data consistently show significant differences in sensory areas, including the anterior cingulate gyrus, prefrontal cortex, putamen nucleus, occipital cortex, and temporal cortex in ADHD patients [ 39 , 40 ]. Additionally, low-frequency oscillations in the cerebellum and thalamus of individuals with ADHD differ significantly from those of TD individuals [ 41 ]. Abnormalities in internal functional connectivity are observed in the default network, somatosensory network, and dorsal attention network, as well as abnormal internetwork functional connectivity in the default network and ventral attention network, were present in children with ADHD and were positively correlated with ADHD symptoms [ 42 ].…”

“…The ventral attentional network consists of the right temporoparietal connectivity and ventral frontal cortex, and it redirects attention to stimuli [ 54 ]. Correlation analysis between the sum of connectivity strengths of contributing brain regions and attention deficits revealed regions such as the right superior orbital frontal gyrus, the left rectus gyrus, and bilateral insula in multiple regions of the prefrontal lobe, the right inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral transverse temporal gyrus in temporal lobe regions, the lingual gyrus in the occipital lobe, and the left caudate nucleus [ 41 ]. This is consistent with the presence of multiple functional connectivity abnormalities in parietal and temporal brain regions in the present study and indicates that functional connectivity in parietal and temporal brain regions can be used to identify ADHD and TD individuals.…”

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in the Default Mode Network Differentiates the Combined and Inattentive Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Types

“…Significant negative associations were found between connectivity within the DMN, linking the ventral mPFC and right lateral parietal gyrus, ventral mPFC and right parahippocampus, and right parahippocampus and cerebellar tonsils, with hyperactive-impulsive subscale scores. Interestingly, these regions underpin decision making, self-regulation, memory and response inhibition, with the cerebellar tonsils known to play a role in visual-motor and perception, characteristic of ADHD-C clinical symptoms and proposed DMN and visual and motor networks implicated particularly to ADHD-C type ( Cao et al, 2014 ; Icer et al, 2019 ). Similarly, an inverse association of connectivity in frontal regions of the executive control network and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms in ADHD-C has been previously reported ( Elton et al, 2014 ; Francx et al, 2015 ; Pruim et al, 2019 ).…”