Hung Yi-An, Kuo Tien-Chueh, Tseng Yufeng Jane, Shang Chi-Yung, Gau Susan Shur-Fen
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Transl Psychiatry. 2025 May 24;15(1):180. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03393-5.
Metabolomics research offers promising potential for identifying key metabolites and exploring the pathophysiological underpinnings of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, serum metabolomics in ADHD remains largely uncharted. Our study aimed to search for metabolomic biomarkers in children with ADHD. 70 drug-naïve children diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-5 criteria and 70 sex-, age-, IQ-matched healthy controls were recruited from the National Taiwan University Hospital. All participants were assessed for clinical and ADHD symptoms using the Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) and ADHD Rating Scale-IV (ADHDRS-IV), respectively. Serum-based metabolomic profiles were obtained through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. We performed the Wilcoxon test for univariate analysis, the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) for multivariate analysis, and Spearman correlation analyses for the associations between identified metabolites and clinical and ADHD measures. In our study, 156 metabolites were identified in peripheral blood samples using an untargeted metabolomics approach, among which cholic acid, homoveratric acid, inosine, and nicotinuric acid were significantly different between ADHD and controls. Children with ADHD had upregulated cholic acid and homoveratric acid levels and downregulated inosine and nicotinuric acid levels compared to controls. Notably, the upregulated metabolites positively correlated, and the downregulated metabolites negatively correlated with CGI-S and ADHDRS-IV scores. These metabolites and their mechanisms suggested that the pathophysiology of ADHD might involve connections between the gut-brain axis, oxidative stress, dopaminergic pathway, and purine salvage pathway. Our findings of four novel metabolite-behavior relationships in children with ADHD enhanced our understanding of the potential pathways underlying the pathophysiological mechanisms of ADHD.
代谢组学研究在识别关键代谢物以及探索注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)的病理生理基础方面具有广阔前景。然而,ADHD的血清代谢组学研究仍基本处于空白状态。我们的研究旨在寻找ADHD儿童的代谢组学生物标志物。从台湾大学医院招募了70名根据DSM-5标准诊断为ADHD且未服用过药物的儿童以及70名性别、年龄、智商匹配的健康对照。所有参与者分别使用临床总体印象严重程度(CGI-S)和ADHD评定量表-IV(ADHDRS-IV)评估临床症状和ADHD症状。通过液相色谱-质谱法获得基于血清的代谢组学图谱。我们进行了单变量分析的Wilcoxon检验、多变量分析的正交偏最小二乘判别分析(OPLS-DA)以及已识别代谢物与临床和ADHD测量指标之间关联的Spearman相关分析。在我们的研究中,使用非靶向代谢组学方法在外周血样本中鉴定出156种代谢物,其中胆酸、高藜芦酸、肌苷和烟尿酸在ADHD组和对照组之间存在显著差异。与对照组相比,ADHD儿童的胆酸和高藜芦酸水平上调,肌苷和烟尿酸水平下调。值得注意的是,上调的代谢物与CGI-S和ADHDRS-IV评分呈正相关,下调的代谢物与CGI-S和ADHDRS-IV评分呈负相关。这些代谢物及其机制表明,ADHD的病理生理学可能涉及肠-脑轴、氧化应激、多巴胺能途径和嘌呤补救途径之间的联系。我们在ADHD儿童中发现的四种新的代谢物-行为关系增强了我们对ADHD病理生理机制潜在途径的理解。