[Methylphenidate and short-term memory in young females with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging]. / Metilfenidato y memoria a corto plazo en mujeres jovenes con trastorno por deficit de atencion/hiperactividad. Estudio de resonancia magnetica funcional.

INTRODUCTION: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioral disorder found mainly in males, thus current knowledge on its clinical expression in female adults is extremely limited. AIM. To evaluate the behavioral and neural substrates associated with the performance of a short-term memory task in female ADHD adults, with and without methylphenidate exposure, with respect to a control group. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two groups of eight young right-handed, female, university students with ADHD and healthy controls matched by age, gender, handedness and academic level, voluntarily participated. All subjects performed twice an easy auditory short-term memory task (ADHD group without, and 90 minutes post-intake of methylphenidate 0.4 mg/kg in a counterbalanced order). The BOLD-fMRI response was used as a measure of neural activity during task performance. RESULTS: ADHD subjects showed a tendency to improve their performances under medication, showing an increased widespread functional activation, especially relevant over left frontal and cerebellar areas, in comparison with control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Methylphenidate slightly improves short-term memory task performance in adult female ADHD subjects by modifying underlying neural functioning patterns.

Metilfenidato y memoria a corto plazo en mujeres jóvenes con trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad. Estudio de resonancia magnética funcional / Methylphenidate and short-term memory in young females with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Introducción. El trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad (TDAH) afecta predominantemente al sexo masculino, por lo que el conocimiento acerca de su expresión clínica y los efectos del tratamiento en el sexo femenino es muy limitado. Objetivo. Evaluar la respuesta funcional asociada a la ejecución de una tarea sencilla de memoria a corto plazo en mujeres con TDAH sin y bajo la exposición a metilfenidato respecto a un grupo control sano. Sujetos y métodos. Ocho mujeres universitarias, diestras, con diagnóstico de TDAH subtipo inatento y un grupo de controles sanos ejecutaron una tarea auditiva de memoria a corto plazo en dos ocasiones (sin y con ingestión de una dosis terapéutica de metilfenidato en el grupo con TDAH) mientras se registraba la respuesta funcional cerebral con la técnica BOLD de resonancia magnética funcional. Resultados. El grupo con TDAH mostró una tendencia a mejorar la ejecución basal de la tarea con la administración del medicamento. El grupo con TDAH medicado incrementó su actividad funcional en lóbulos frontales, temporal bilateral, parietal derecho y cerebelo izquierdo respecto a los niveles obtenidos durante la ejecución sin metilfenidato. En contraste, los controles sanos mostraron menor activación en el lóbulo frontal bilateral y parietal derecho durante la segunda ejecución de la tarea. Conclusión. El metilfenidato genera una activación funcional más amplia en mujeres adultas con TDAH que coincide con una tendencia a la mejoría en la ejecución conductual de una tarea sencilla de memoria a corto plazo (AU)

Introduction. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioral disorder found mainly in males, thus current knowledge on its clinical expression in female adults is extremely limited. Aim. To evaluate the behavioral and neural substrates associated with the performance of a short-term memory task in female ADHD adults, with and without methylphenidate exposure, with respect to a control group. Subjects and methods. Two groups of eight young right-handed, female, university students with ADHD and healthy controls matched by age, gender, handedness and academic level, voluntarily participated. All subjects performed twice an easy auditory short-term memory task (ADHD group without, and 90 minutes post-intake of methylphenidate 0.4 mg/kg in a counterbalanced order). The BOLD-fMRI response was used as a measure of neural activity during task performance. Results. ADHD subjects showed a tendency to improve their performances under medication, showing an increased widespread functional activation, especially relevant over left frontal and cerebellar areas, in comparison with control subjects. Conclusions. Methylphenidate slightly improves short-term memory task performance in adult female ADHD subjects by modifying underlying neural functioning patterns (AU)