Background
Dopamine beta hydroxylase (DβH) catalyzes the conversion of dopamine to noradrenaline.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with the A2 allele
of a Taq I polymorphism of the DBH gene. Since catecholamines regulate visual attention,
we examined whether participants with ADHD were impaired on a task requiring temporal
attention and how DBH genotype influenced temporal attention in ADHD.
Methods
Thirty-seven children and adolescents with ADHD and 52 matched, normal control subjects
participated. Participants were presented with two visual stimuli, separated in time
by either 50, 100, or 200 milliseconds, and were asked to judge the temporal order
of their onset. Genotypes for the Taq 1 polymorphism were available for 33 of the
ADHD participants.
Results
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder participants were more error prone than control
subjects, particularly when stimuli were presented close together in time (i.e., at
the 50 milliseconds asynchrony). Moreover, ADHD individuals homozygous for the A2
allele performed more poorly than those without this allele, and this difference was
accentuated at the 50 milliseconds asynchrony.
Conclusions
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder participants have an impaired rate of perceptual
processing for rapidly presented visual events. Deficits in the temporal resolution
of visual attention in ADHD are associated with the A2 allele of the Taq I DBH polymorphism
or another variant with which it is in linkage disequilibrium.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 31, 2006
Accepted:
March 9,
2006
Received in revised form:
October 25,
2005
Received in revised form:
March 3,
2006
Received:
August 2,
2005
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
