Background
Previous investigations using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have shown that
neural inhibitory motor circuits are disturbed in ADHD children. We sought to investigate
the influence of methylphenidate (MPH) on inhibitory and facilitatory motor circuits
of ADHD children with TMS paired pulse protocols using surplus long interval inter-stimulus
intervals (ISI) not investigated so far.
Methods
Motorcortical modulation was tested with TMS paired pulse protocols employing ISI
of 3, 13, 50, 100, 200, and 300 msec in 18 ADHD children before and on treatment with
MPH. Clinical improvement by MPH was measured by the Conners score.
Results
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant three-way interaction “Group ×
Amplitude × ISI,” p = .001. Subsequent two-factorial ANOVAs and t-tests showed group specific differences of motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes
for inhibitory ISIs of 3 and 100 msec, and for facilitatory ISIs of 13 and 50 msec.
Compared to controls, an adjustment of these parameters by MPH could be shown. On
MPH, a significant bivariate correlation was found between the Conners score reduction
and averaged MEP amplitude changes only for inhibitory ISIs (3 and 100 msec).
Conclusions
In ADHD children, MPH modulates disturbed facilitatory and inhibitory motor circuits,
which for the latter is associated with clinical improvement.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 28, 2007
Accepted:
May 11,
2007
Received in revised form:
May 10,
2007
Received:
February 16,
2007
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
