FMRI OF IMPULSE CONTROL IN CHILDHOOD DISORDERS

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。这项提议的长期目标是使用功能性脑磁共振成像（fMRI）来更好地了解导致图雷特综合症、强迫症（OCD）和注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）冲动控制问题的神经回路。临床经验表明，患有严重神经精神障碍的儿童最痛苦的不是他们最初的诊断症状，而是他们在冲动控制、多动、注意力不集中和反应抑制方面的困难。这些相关问题跨越了大多数诊断领域，是临床转诊的最常见原因。通过了解这一回路的功能障碍，我们将能够更好地设计和评估针对这些问题的新疗法的效果。我们的目标是通过运动、注意力和抑制神经系统的成像来更好地理解冲动控制的神经生物学，这些神经系统涉及正常儿童和患有TS、OCD或ADHD的儿童的冲动控制。我们的具体目的是：1)利用功能磁共振成像技术研究80例正常儿童和成人（7-50岁）冲动控制的神经基础，并将这些正常受试者的脑活动与80例TS、40例OCD和40例ADHD受试者的脑活动进行比较。2)研究冲动控制脑区功能连通性。3)表明fMRI信号的任务相关变化可以预测冲动控制模型中的重要行为措施。4)确定兴奋剂药物对40例多动症儿童冲动控制回路活动的影响。5)在40名正常和40名匹配的TS儿童和成人中开发并应用我们的冲动控制模型的新的“事件相关”fMRI任务激活协议。

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. The long-term objective of this proposal is to use functional MR brain imaging (fMRI) to better understand the neural circuits that contribute to problems with impulse control in Tourette's syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Clinical experience has shown that children who have a serious neuropsychiatric disorder suffer most not from their primary diagnostic symptoms, but from their difficulties with impulse control, hyperactivity, inattention, and response inhibition. These associated problems cut across most diagnostic domains and are the most frequent cause for clinical referral. By understanding dysfunction in this circuitry we will be better able to design and assess the effects of new therapeutics for these problems. We aim to understand better the neurobiology of impulse control through the imaging of motor, attention, and inhibitory neural systems involved in the control of impulses in normal children and in childr en who have TS, OCD, or ADHD. Our specific aims are: 1) To use fMRI to study the neural basis of impulse control in 80 normal children and adults (7-50 years old), and to compare the brain activity in these normal subjects with the brain activity in 80 TS, 40 OCD, and 40 ADHD subjects. 2) To study the functional connectivity of brain regions that subserve impulse control. 3) To show that task-related changes in fMRI signal can predict important behavioral measures in our models of impulse control. 4) To determine the effects that stimulant medications have on the activity of impulse control circuits in 40 children who have ADHD. 5) To develop and apply to the study of our models of impulse control new "event-related" fMRI task activation protocols in 40 normal and 40 matched TS children and adults.