TUESDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified alterations in specific genes involved in brain signaling pathways implicated in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a report published online Dec. 4 in Nature Genetics.
Josephine Elia, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a whole-genome analyses of 1,013 children with ADHD and 4,105 healthy children of European ancestry, using 550,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Initial findings were compared in multiple independent cohorts that included 2,493 children with ADHD and 9,222 controls, all of European ancestry.
The researchers identified four genes with a significantly higher number of copy number variations in children with ADHD. All four genes were members of the glutamate receptor gene family (GRM1, GRM5, GRM7, GRM8); the strongest result was seen in GRM5 (encoding glutamate receptor, metabotropic 5).
"Members of the GRM gene family, along with genes they interact with, affect nerve transmission, the formation of neurons, and interconnections in the brain, so the fact that children with ADHD are more likely to have alterations in these genes reinforces previous evidence that the GRM pathway is important in ADHD," a co-author said in a statement. "Our findings get to the cause of the ADHD symptoms in a subset of children with the disease."
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