Manual morphometry of hippocampus and amygdala in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Kathrin Nickel; Ludger Tebartz van Elst; Evgeniy Perlov; Renate Jitten-Schachenmeier; Daniel Beier; Dominique Endres; Peter Goll; Alexandra Philipsen; Simon Maier

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.07.001

Manual morphometry of hippocampus and amygdala in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2017 Sep 30:267:32-35. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.07.001. Epub 2017 Jul 14.

Authors

Kathrin Nickel¹, Ludger Tebartz van Elst², Evgeniy Perlov³, Renate Jitten-Schachenmeier², Daniel Beier², Dominique Endres², Peter Goll², Alexandra Philipsen⁴, Simon Maier²

Affiliations

¹ Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 5, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address: kathrin.nickel@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
² Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 5, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
³ Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 5, 79104 Freiburg, Germany; Luzerner Psychiatrie, Hospital St. Urban, Schafmattstrasse 1, 4915 St. Urban, Switzerland.
⁴ Medical Campus University of Oldenburg, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy - University Hospital Karl-Jaspers-Hospital, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 7, 26160 Bad Zwischenahn, Germany.

PMID: 28734177
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.07.001

Abstract

Previous studies have pointed to the involvement of limbic structures in the genesis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present researchers manually segmented magnetic resonance images of 30 individuals with ADHD and 30 individually matched controls, focusing on amygdala and hippocampus volumes. Neither hippocampus nor amygdala volume differed significantly between individuals with and without ADHD. However, ADHD patients with higher hyperactivity scores had significantly smaller left amygdala volumes. This finding suggests that limbic alterations are significant in hyperactive symptoms in the pathophysiology of ADHD.

Keywords: Amygdala; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Hippocampus.

MeSH terms

Adult
Amygdala / diagnostic imaging
Amygdala / pathology*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / diagnostic imaging
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / pathology*
Case-Control Studies
Female
Hippocampus / diagnostic imaging
Hippocampus / pathology*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Middle Aged
Organ Size
Young Adult