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PMID: 16869226 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

The adrenergic receptor alpha-2A gene (ADRA2A) and neuropsychological executive functions as putative endophenotypes for childhood ADHD.

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience ·Vol. 6 ·No. 1 ·2006-03-00 ·Pages 18-30

Waldman ID, Nigg JT, Gizer IR, Park L, Rappley MD, Friderici K

Abstract

There is resurgent interest in the psychiatric literature in endophenotypes, variables thought to more strongly reflect the effects of candidate genes than do manifest disorders. In a sample of 176 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 52 of their siblings, we examined the validity of several putative endophenotypes for ADHD that represent commonly used clinical measures of multiple cognitive/neuropsychological domains of executive functions (EFs). We review their distributional normality, their relations to ADHD symptoms in probands and unaffected siblings relative to nonADHD controls, and their correlation in siblings. We also tested theEF measures' associations with the ADRA2A gene and whether they mediated or moderated the associations between ADHD and ADRA2A. Several EF measures showed association with ADRA2A, as well as moderation, but not mediation, of its association with ADHD. Implications of the results for evaluating the validity and utility of putative endophenotype measures and for finding candidate gene effects on ADHD are discussed.

MeSH Terms
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/genetics,physiopathology Child, Preschool Choice Behavior/physiology DNA Mutational Analysis/methods Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Family Health Female Gene Frequency Genetic Predisposition to Disease Humans Male Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data Phenotype Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational Problem Solving/physiology Reaction Time/genetics Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2/genetics Reproducibility of Results
Chemicals
ADRA2A protein, human Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Waldman Irwin D
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. [email protected]
Nigg Joel T
Gizer Ian R
Park Leeyoung
Rappley Marsha D
Friderici Karen
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Article Info
Journal
Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience
Abbr.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci
ISSN
1530-7026
DOI
10.3758/cabn.6.1.18
Email
[email protected]
Published
2006-03-00
Pages
18-30
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101083946
Subset
IM
Grants
NIMH NIH HHS · F31-MH0072083 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · K01-MH01818 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01-MH070004 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01-MH59105 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.3758/cabn.6.1.18 View journal details
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