Gene Is Linked to Hyperactive Behavior Disorder
A gene involved in a key communication system in the brain may promote attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, a study says.
About 3% to 5 % of American children have ADHD. They have trouble paying attention and may show impulsiveness and hyperactivity.
The gene plays a role in circuits in which brain cells communicate with squirts of a substance called dopamine. This “dopamine transporter” gene tells brain cells how to make a protein involved in handling dopamine signals.
A statistical link between a particular form of this gene and ADHD was reported in 1995, and now another study confirms that finding.
Irish researchers studied genetic material from 40 children with ADHD and the children’s parents. They found that the suspect gene variant had been inherited by the children more often than one would expect by chance.
The work is reported in the July issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
