Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario Canada.
Brain Res. 2012 Mar 22;1445:82-91. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.01.034. Epub 2012 Jan 24.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is common in children and frequently persists into adulthood. While ADHD is characterized by developmentally inappropriate, persistent and impairing levels of inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity, it is also associated with sensorimotor deficits and altered neural processing of somatosensory stimuli, as well as with executive function deficits. The latter are associated with thinning of frontal lobe structures in ADHD; however, few structural neuroimaging studies have focused on changes in brain morphology in sensorimotor regions in this population. Moreover, little is known about morphological changes that occur in these regions throughout the developmental trajectory into adulthood. In this preliminary cross-sectional study, we examined cortical thickness with a focus on brain regions involved in sensorimotor processing in adolescents and adults with ADHD compared to neurotypical cohorts. Compared to controls, adolescents with ADHD showed significant increased cortical thickness in the pre-supplementary motor area (SMA) and adults with ADHD showed increased thickness in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). Based on these differences, we collated the data from the adolescents and adults and examined possible age×group interaction effects on cortical thickness. A significant interaction effect was found in SI where healthy participants showed decreased thickness in this region at older ages, whereas the ADHD cohort showed little change. Results suggest that sensorimotor brain regions are altered in ADHD and these changes may not dissipate in adolescence, but rather persist into adulthood.
注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）是一种常见于儿童且常持续至成年的神经发育障碍。ADHD 的特征是发展性不适当、持续存在且损害程度的注意力不集中、冲动和多动，但它也与感觉运动缺陷以及感觉刺激的神经加工改变有关，也与执行功能缺陷有关。后者与 ADHD 中额叶结构变薄有关；然而，很少有结构神经影像学研究关注该人群感觉运动区域的脑形态变化。此外，对于这些区域在整个发育轨迹到成年期间发生的形态变化知之甚少。在这项初步的横断面研究中，我们检查了皮质厚度，重点关注与感觉运动处理相关的脑区，比较了 ADHD 青少年和成年人与神经典型队列的脑区。与对照组相比，ADHD 青少年在辅助运动前区（SMA）的皮质厚度显著增加，ADHD 成年人在初级体感皮层（SI）的皮质厚度增加。基于这些差异，我们整理了青少年和成年人的数据，并检查了皮质厚度上可能存在的年龄×组间相互作用效应。在 SI 中发现了一个显著的交互效应，健康参与者在该区域的厚度随着年龄的增长而减少，而 ADHD 组的变化很小。结果表明，感觉运动脑区在 ADHD 中发生改变，这些变化在青春期可能不会消散，而是持续到成年。
