EFFECTS OF ARIPIPRAZOLE ON BRAIN MORPHOLOGY IN CONDUCT DISORDER

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Disruptive Behavior Disorders are a group of childhood-onset psychiatric conditions characterized by externalizing behaviors such as impulsivity, verbal and physical aggression, and delinquency (collectively referred to as conduct problems). Aripiprazole is a new atypical antipsychotic with a partial dopamine (D2) receptor agonist activity. This study will collect clinical measures of impulsivity, delinquency, and aggression as well as brain structural MRI scans obtained at baseline and at the end of the study. These investigators expect to find a correlation between baseline grey matter volume of ventral prefrontal cortices and severity of aggression. Furthermore, they hypothesize that clinical improvement in aggressive behavior will be strongly correlated with a reduction in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptomatology in children taking aripiprazole. Finally, they predict the presence of an association between clinical improvement and changes in ventral prefrontal volumetric measures.