Structural brain change in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder identified by meta-analysis.

Background: The authors sought to map gray matter changes in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using a novel technique incorporating neuro-imaging and genetic meta-analysis methods.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted for voxel-based structural magnetic resonance imaging studies of patients with ADHD (or with related disorders) in relation to comparison groups. The authors carried out meta-analyses of the co-ordinates of gray matter differences.

Heterozygous PAX6 mutation, adult brain structure and fronto-striato-thalamic function in a human family.

Recent progress in developmental neurobiology and neuroimaging can be drawn together to provide new insight into the links between genetically specified processes of embryonic brain development and adult human brain structure and function. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to show that individuals with aniridia and deficits in executive and social cognition, due to heterozygous mutation of the neurodevelopmental control gene PAX6, have structural abnormalities of grey matter in anterior cingulate cortex, cerebellum and medial temporal lobe, as well as white matter deficits in corpus callosum. Functional MRI demonstrated reduced activation of fronto-striato-thalamic systems during performance of overt verbal fluency and nonsense sentence completion; the most consistent abnormality of verbal executive activation was located in the thalamus.