RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Methylphenidate (MPH) is widely used to treat childhood and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, there are still safety concerns about side effects in long-term treatment. The aim of this study was to assess cytogenetic effects of chronic MPH treatment in adult ADHD and to find out if chronic social stress is attenuated by medication and to investigate whether chronic psychosocial stress leads to mutagenic effects by itself. METHODS: Lymphocytes for micronucleus assay and saliva samples for cortisol measurement were collected from adult ADHD patients and healthy controls. Stress exposure of the last 3 months was assessed by TICS (Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress). RESULTS: We could not detect an influence of MPH treatment on cytogenetic markers. ADHD patients displayed significantly higher chronic stress levels measured by TICS compared to healthy controls which were influenced by duration of MPH treatment. ADHD patients also showed significantly lower basal cortisol levels. DISCUSSION: We could corroborate that there are neither cytogenetic effects of chronic stress nor of chronic MPH intake even after several years of treatment.
Assuntos
Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/tratamento farmacológico , Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/patologia , Estimulantes do Sistema Nervoso Central/uso terapêutico , Linfócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Metilfenidato/uso terapêutico , Adolescente , Adulto , Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/complicações , Células Cultivadas , Feminino , Humanos , Hidrocortisona/metabolismo , Masculino , Saliva/metabolismo , Estatísticas não Paramétricas , Estresse Psicológico/sangue , Estresse Psicológico/tratamento farmacológico , Estresse Psicológico/etiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
NO is a pleiotropic signaling molecule and has an important role in cognition and emotion. In the brain, NO is produced by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS-I, encoded by NOS1) coupled to the NMDA receptor via PDZ interactions; this protein-protein interaction is disrupted upon binding of NOS1 adapter protein (encoded by NOS1AP) to NOS-I. As both NOS1 and NOS1AP were associated with schizophrenia, we here investigated these genes in greater detail by genotyping new samples and conducting a meta-analysis of our own and published data. In doing so, we confirmed association of both genes with schizophrenia and found evidence for their interaction in increasing risk towards disease. Our strongest finding was the NOS1 promoter SNP rs41279104, yielding an odds ratio of 1.29 in the meta-analysis. As findings from heterologous cell systems have suggested that the risk allele decreases gene expression, we studied the effect of the variant on NOS1 expression in human post-mortem brain samples and found that the risk allele significantly decreases expression of NOS1 in the prefrontal cortex. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that this might be due the replacement of six transcription factor binding sites by two new binding sites as a consequence of proxy SNPs. Taken together, our data argue that genetic variance in NOS1 resulting in lower prefrontal brain expression of this gene contributes to schizophrenia liability, and that NOS1 interacts with NOS1AP in doing so. The NOS1-NOS1AP PDZ interface may thus well constitute a novel target for small molecules in at least some forms of schizophrenia.