Overlapping and differential neuropharmacological mechanisms of stimulants and nonstimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a comparative neuroimaging analysis.

Background: Psychostimulants and nonstimulants have partially overlapping pharmacological targets on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but whether their neuroimaging underpinnings differ is elusive. We aimed to identify overlapping and medication-specific brain functional mechanisms of psychostimulants and nonstimulants on ADHD.

Methods: After a systematic literature search and database construction, the imputed maps of separate and pooled neuropharmacological mechanisms were meta-analyzed by Seed-based Mapping toolbox, followed by large-scale network analysis to uncover potential coactivation patterns and meta-regression analysis to examine the modulatory effects of age and sex.

Results: Twenty-eight whole-brain task-based functional MRI studies (396 cases in the medication group and 459 cases in the control group) were included. Possible normalization effects of stimulant and nonstimulant administration converged on increased activation patterns of the left supplementary motor area ( = 1.21, < 0.0001, central executive network). Stimulants, relative to nonstimulants, increased brain activations in the left amygdala ( = 1.30, = 0.0006), middle cingulate gyrus ( = 1.22, = 0.0008), and superior frontal gyrus ( = 1.27, = 0.0006), which are within the ventral attention network. Neurodevelopmental trajectories emerged in activation patterns of the right supplementary motor area and left amygdala, with the left amygdala also presenting a sex-related difference.

Conclusions: Convergence in the left supplementary motor area may delineate novel therapeutic targets for effective interventions, and distinct neural substrates could account for different therapeutic responses to stimulants and nonstimulants.