Network-Based Differences in Top-Down Multisensory Integration between Adult ADHD and Healthy Controls-A Diffusion...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly understood as a neurodevelopmental network disorder.
• Altered sensory processing, particularly auditory hypersensitivity, is a noted feature in ADHD.
• Multisensory integration (MI), the brain's ability to combine information from different senses, is crucial for perception and mediated by fronto-temporal and fronto-parietal networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between multisensory integration (MI) and brain structural connectivity in adult patients with ADHD.
• To explore how network-based pathophysiology in ADHD relates to the ability to integrate multimodal sensory input.

Main Methods:

• Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was used to acquire structural connectomes from 25 adult ADHD patients and 24 healthy controls.
• Graph theory analysis was applied to investigate brain network properties in relation to ADHD.
• Multisensory integration (MI) scores, derived from the McGurk paradigm, were correlated with the structural connectome.

Main Results:

• Elevated structural connectivity in network hubs was observed in ADHD patients, consistent with altered default-mode network activity.
• In ADHD, MI was associated with increased connectivity between Heschl's gyrus and auditory parabelt regions.
• Altered fronto-temporal network integrity was found in individuals with ADHD, correlating with multisensory processing.

Conclusions:

• Structural network integrity alterations in adult ADHD extend to multisensory behavioral deficits.
• Impaired multisensory integration (MI) and associated network integration in ADHD may reflect a maturational cortical delay persisting into adulthood.
• These findings highlight the role of network connectivity in sensory processing abnormalities in adult ADHD.