Abstract

Atypical Functional Connectivity of Limbic Network in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective: Previous neuroimaging works have been used to research abnormal functional connectivity in patients with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although most of these studies relied on static functional connectivity, we instead attempt to explore dynamic functional connectivity changes associated with the limbic network connectivity in ADHD.

Methods: We applied sliding window approach to the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 25 children with ADHD and 23 Typically- Developing Controls (TD) to generate temporal correlations maps, then we evaluated the average and variability of the limbic structures to the whole brain network functional connectivity in each window.

Results: In ADHD compared to TD during eight minutes and twenty two seconds of scanning time, dynamic resting-state analyses revealed increased average of limbic network connectivity in three different seconds of the seventh minute (i.e fourth, sixth and eighth) and increased variability within all temporal windows in the fifth minute 22 seconds to 32 seconds and between fifth minute 38th second to sixth minute 14th second. ADHD group also reported stronger correlation (r=0.62, p<0.001) between in-scanner head motion and ages compared to the TD group (r=-0.1, p<0.001). Moreover, static functional connectivity (long-range) did not reveal significant differences between the groups.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that dynamic functional connectivity analyses might be crucial in characterizing abnormal patterns in ADHD and that the exploitation of these dynamics in further investigations may serve as potential indicators of ADHD.

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