Abnormal stability of dynamic functional architecture in drug-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Shuangli Chen; Beihui Xue; Ronghui Zhou; Andan Qian; Jiejie Tao; Chuang Yang; Xiaoqi Huang; Meihao Wang

doi:10.1186/s12888-024-06310-0

Abnormal stability of dynamic functional architecture in drug-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 26;24(1):851. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-06310-0.

Authors

Shuangli Chen¹, Beihui Xue¹, Ronghui Zhou¹, Andan Qian¹, Jiejie Tao¹, Chuang Yang², Xiaoqi Huang^#³, Meihao Wang^#⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, China.
² Department of Mental Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, China.
³ Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China. Julianahuang@163.com.
⁴ Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, China. wzwmh@wmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39592983
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-06310-0

Abstract

Background and aims: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood, characterized by developmentally inappropriate inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms. Static and dynamic functional connectivity (FC) studies have revealed brain dysfunction in ADHD. However, few studies have estimated the stability of dynamic functional architecture of children with ADHD. The present study attempted to identify the functional stability (FS) abnormalities associated with ADHD in drug-naïve children.

Materials and methods: The resting-state fMRI of 42 children with ADHD and 30 healthy controls (HCs) were collected. Using the sliding window approach, FS of each voxel was obtained by measuring the concordance of dynamic FC over time. Further, the seed based dynamic FC (dFC) was conducted to explore the specific brain regions with dFC alteration related to these brain regions with altered FS. Then, the inter-group comparison and correlation analysis were performed.

Results: We found that children with ADHD exhibited (1) decreased FS in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and increased FS in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), which both belong to the default mode network (DMN); (2) increased dFC between the bilateral SFG of DMN and the left insula of salience networks (SN) (GRF, voxel-wise p < 0.001, cluster-wise p < 0.05); (3) decreased dFC between the right MTG and the left cerebellum posterior lobe, and (3) worse performance in the Stroop test that significantly correlate with decreased FS in the bilateral SFG (p = 0.043, FDR corrected).

Conclusions: Our findings showed that the abnormal functional architecture involved the DMN (the bilateral SFG and right MTG) and SN (left insula) regions in children with ADHD. This preliminary study provides novel insight into the dynamic brain functional networks in ADHD.

Keywords: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Dynamic functional connectivity(dFC); Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI); Functional stability (FS).

Abstract

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