Theta power as an intermediate phenotype of ADHD
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1
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom
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2
SCCN, University of California San Diego, United States
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3
King’s College London, United Kingdom
Theta power has been consistently associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is heritable and thus may be a possible endophenotype of the disorder. The term endophenotype (EPT) has been used extensively in recent genetic research into the aetiology of psychiatric disorders. EPTs must be genetically and phenotypically associated with the disorder, and are proposed to be closer to the site of gene action. However, conventional definitions of EPTs do not discriminate between a ‘liability-index’ (LI) and a ‘mediational’ (ME) model. The LI model specifies that a common set of genes increase risk both for the disorder and for the EPT. The ME model makes the stronger assumption that the causal pathway from genes to disorder passes through EPT. In this study, we aimed to use multivariate twin modeling to compare the LI model and the ME model for theta power in the etiology of ADHD. We collected EEG data in a sample of 69 male twin pairs (13 – 15 years) in two resting conditions, with three tasks in between. Theta power was identified using adaptive mixture independent component analysis (AMICA). AMICA indicated similar states in both resting conditions, which reduced measurement error and allowed more accurate estimations of the genetic architecture. Theta power in the two conditions was highly correlated (r = .90). Structural equation modeling of the data, which segregates the genetic and environmental variance, indicated that theta power is highly heritable (80%) and shares genetic overlap with ADHD (40%). Further, the ME model fitted the data better than the LI model, which indicates that theta activity mediates genetic influences on ADHD. Theta power is therefore important in the etiology of ADHD and may be a useful target for intervention. Funding: National Institute of Health Research, Royal Society.
Keywords:
EPT,
Neuropsychiatry
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Neuropsychiatric Applications
Citation:
McLoughlin
G,
Palmer
J,
Rijsdijk
F and
Makeig
S
(2011). Theta power as an intermediate phenotype of ADHD.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00120
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Received:
17 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Gráinne McLoughlin, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, grainne.mcloughlin@kcl.ac.uk