Disrupted Control-Related Functional Brain Networks in Drug-Naive Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disease featuring executive control deficits as a prominent neuropsychological trait. Executive functions are implicated in multiple sub-networks of the brain; however, few studies examine these sub-networks as a whole in ADHD. By combining resting-state functional MRI and graph-based approaches, we systematically investigated functional connectivity patterns among four control-related networks, including the frontoparietal network (FPN), cingulo-opercular network, cerebellar network, and default mode network (DMN), in 46 drug-naive children with ADHD and 31 age-, gender-, and intelligence quotient-matched healthy controls (HCs). Compared to the HCs, the ADHD children showed significantly decreased functional connectivity that primarily involved the DMN and FPN regions and cross-network long-range connections. Further graph-based network analysis revealed that the ADHD children had fewer connections, lower network efficiency, and more functional modules compared with the HCs. The ADHD-related alterations in functional connectivity but not topological organization were correlated with clinical symptoms of the ADHD children and differentiated the patients from the HCs with a good performance. Taken together, our findings suggest a less-integrated functional brain network in children with ADHD due to selective disruption of key long-range connections, with important implications for understanding the neural substrates of ADHD, particularly executive dysfunction.

Disrupted brain functional networks in drug‐naïve children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessed using graph theory analysis

“…Alterations of small‐world topological properties have also been reported in three previous functional connectome studies of ADHD children (Tao et al, ; Wang et al, ; Xia et al, ), but the results were not fully consistent. The results of a smaller‐sample study using drug‐naïve ADHD children were consistent with our results in showing a decreased global efficiency in ADHD (Tao et al, ). However, in the other two studies using drug treated samples, no significant changes in global efficiency in ADHD were found, and opposite changes in local efficiency were observed.…”

“…Alterations of small-world topological properties have also been reported in three previous functional connectome studies of ADHD children (Tao et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2009;Xia et al, 2014), but the results were not fully consistent. The results of a smaller-sample study using drug-naïve ADHD children were consistent with our results in showing a decreased global efficiency in ADHD (Tao et al, 2017).…”

Associations Between Resting State Functional Connectivity and a Hierarchical Dimensional Structure of Psychopathology in Middle Childhood

“…31 This is consistent with previous research that found evidence for altered CON connectivity in association with neurodevelopmental symptoms. [54][55][56] Impaired anticorrelations between both CON and 'Other' and DAN and 'Other' networks may be reflective of impairments in neural functional integration that may contribute to neurodevelopmental symptoms. Also higher neurodevelopmental symptoms were associated with greater connectivity between the CON and VAN networks, which may be indicative of increased attention to external environmental stimuli, consistent with some previous research on inattentive symptoms.…”

Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice in Neurofeedback Training for Attention

“…Individuals diagnosed with ADHD have shown dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (Schneider, Retz, Coogan, Thome, & Rösler, 2006) and lowered beta/theta ratios, particularly in the PFC region (Arns, Conners, & Kraemer, 2013). This dysregulation is associated with disruption of interactions between the default mode network and the FPN-CON (Tao et al, 2017). Together, this information implicates the top-down network in a regulatory role over the bottom-up network in sustained attention.…”