PET Scanning of Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Completed

Conditions studied: Volunteer, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In brief

This study will explore the brain in men with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It will use positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain function and nerve cell communication involving phospholipids (fatty molecules that make up the covering of nerve cell fibers in the brain and are involved in communication between the cells). It will also look at how nerve cell communication is related to blood flow. In particular, the study will explore communication through the dopamine system, which is one of the main neurotransmitter systems in the brain involved in ADHD. Healthy men and men with ADHD between 18 and 55 years of age may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following procedures: "\<TAB\>Medical history and psychiatric and medical evaluation, including blood and urine tests. "\<TAB\>MRI scan. This test uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of the brain. The subject lies still on a table that slides into the scanner (a metal cylinder) during the scanning. "\<TAB\>PET scanning. The subject lies on the scanner bed with his head held still using a special facemask. A catheter (plastic tube or needle) is placed in an artery to collect blood samples and in a vein to inject radioactive isotopes for measuring blood flow and phospholipid metabolism. Scans are done after an injection of a saline solution and again after injection of apomorphine, a medication that turns on dopamine receptors in the brain. The injections are given under the skin of the abdomen, about one and a half hours apart....

Key facts

Study ID

NCT00397748

Run by

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

People needed

16

Starts

2006-09-15

Expected to finish

2012-11-27

Last updated by the study team

2019-12-16

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 55. Sex: male. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may not qualify if…

• In addition to psychiatric criteria described above: past or current medical condition that would interfere with brain function - history of alcoholism, tobacco use (must have minimum of one year of full remission/complete abstinence from nicotine), neurological illness, head trauma with loss of consciousness, history of exposure to central nervous system toxin; history of central nervous system infection; metabolic, endocrine, connective tissue disease; hypertension or other cardiovascular disorder; gastrointestinal disorders; abnormal renal, liver or pulmonary function; blood dyscrasias; malignancy; nonstimulant or stimulant pharmacotherapy within 1 month of the study, or any history of antipsychotic medication; neurodegenerative or neurodevelopmental disorder; stroke; epilepsy; sensitivity to flashing lights; subjects requiring regular medication; subjects demonstrated by drug screening to have taken a controlled substance; subjects with a history of hypersensitivity to lidocaine; subjects with IQ less than 80. Females, adolescents and children will be excluded.

Where it is running

• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike — Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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