Brain cells and ADHD - a black hole
Professor Judith Rapoport describes attempts to define cellular abnormalities in ADHD as something of a black hole, which may be due to the polygenic nature of the disorder.
It is a black hole, and I think one of the reasons is because, for the most part, the genetic advances have been with these genes like D4 or even neuregulin in schizophrenia. There are statistical associations, but statistical association means that the so-called risk gene is never present in most of the patients, and is present in loads of health people. So you don’t have the kind of a specific gene, like you have for some rare disorders, where you really can say, “Well what are the cellular effects of having Reiter’s syndrome or Fragile X or something like that?†So, there’s a couple of genes in schizophrenia that look interesting enough that you might be able to, with some of these copy number variants or some of the missense mutations from sequencing genes, you might be able to knock in those particular gene versions into animals and look at cellular effects. We are collaborating with people who will probably be doing that for the genes that we find that we have missense mutations, and so on.
adhd, attention, deficit, hyperactivity, disorder, missense, mutation, statistical. association, cell, brain, neuron, judith, rapoport
- ID: 2203
- Source: DNALC.G2C
- Download: Theora Video MPEG 4 Video
Related Content
2224. ADHD
An overview of ADHD-related content on Genes to Cognition Online.
2233. Attention
An overview of attention-related content on Genes to Cognition Online.
2198. ADHD as a Genetic Disorder
Professor Judith Rapoport discusses the finding that ADHD is a highly heritable disorder and comments on the controversy surrounding ADHD medications.
2162. Biochemistry of ADHD - dopamine
Professor Philip Shaw links an association between ADHD and dopamine receptors, which may relate to brain development.
2199. Neuropathology of attention and ADHD
Professor Judith Rapoport discusses correlates of attention in the frontal and parietal lobes, which are related to the neuropathology of attention.
1223. Genes and Schizophrenia
Professor Pat Levitt discusses that although it shares genes with other disorders, schizophrenia is likely caused by unique combinations of genes.
1229. ADHD Genes
Professor Pat Levitt explains that the genetic basis for ADHD is evident from twin and family studies.
833. Basal Ganglia and Learning
The basal ganglia, a group of interconnected brain areas located deep in the cerebral cortex, have proved to be at work in learning, the formation of good and bad habits, and some psychiatric and addictive disorders.
2164. Biochemistry of ADHD - serotonin
Professor Philip Shaw discusses the relationship between serotonin and ADHD.
1290. Medications for Adult ADHD
A look at some of the medications used to treat adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).