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Abstract #0776

Psychostimulant Medication Duration Correlates with Increased Brain Iron Levels in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Vitria Adisetiyo 1 , Jens H. Jensen 1 , Ali Tabesh 1 , Rachael L. Deardorf 1 , Kevin M. Gray 2 , and Joseph A. Helpern 1,3

1 Radiology and Radiological Science, Center for Biomedical Imaging, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States, 2 Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States, 3 Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States

Dopamine (DA) deficiency is implicated in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is treated with psychostimulant medications that increase synaptic DA. Given that brain iron is required for DA metabolism and can be measured non-invasively with MRI, we examined brain iron as a potential indirect biomarker of DA status. Using magnetic field correlation imaging and R2*, we found comparable brain iron levels in controls and psychostimulant-medicated ADHD patients. Unlike controls, brain iron in patients did not increase with age but rather increased as a function of psychostimulant medication duration suggesting that longer psychostimulant treatment may normalize brain iron levels in ADHD patients.

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