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Differences between attention-deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity: a 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

Sun L, Jin Z, Zang YF, Zeng YW, Liu G, Li Y, Seidman LJ, Faraone SV, Wang YF

Insttitute of Mental Health, Peking University, Huayuanbeilu 51, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, People's Republic of China.

Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) to investigate possible neurometabolic differences between the predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I), the combined subtype (ADHD-C) and normal controls. Proton spectra were acquired bilaterally on the lenticular nucleus in 20 schoolboys having ADHD and 10 matched controls. The boys with ADHD were divided into ADHD-C subtype (n=10) and ADHD-I subtype (n=10) according to DSM-IV criteria. The peaks of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), Choline moieties (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), creatine (Cr) and alpha-Glx were measured and their ratios to Cr were calculated. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc Bonferroni tests were used to detect the difference of the peak-area ratios of NAA, Cho, mI, and alpha-Glx to Cr among the three groups. There was a significant overall group difference in the NAA/Cr ratio both in the right and left lenticular nucleus (right: P=0.002; left: P=0.003). Only the ADHD-C subtype group showed a significant difference with controls (right: P=0.001; left: P=0.003) the right lenticular nucleus, the NAA/Cr ratio in the ADHD-C group was significantly lower than that in the ADHD-I group (P=0.012). In the left lenticular nucleus, the NAA/Cr ratio in the ADHD-C group showed a significant trend compared to the ADHD-I group (P=0.06). This study demonstrated the existence of measurable difference between children with ADHD-C and ADHD-I using (1)H-MRS.

Published 18 July 2005 in Brain Dev, 27(5): 340-4.
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