RG ADHD in Childhood and Adolescence

The research activities of the WG focus above all on biological issues pertaining to the etiology, subtyping, course, prognosis and innovative therapy of ADHD. The WG ADHD of the CIMH CAP provides thorough expertise on innovative nonpharmacological treatment strategies for ADHD exemplified e.g., by a large multicenter RCT on neurofeedback in children with ADHD (DFG HO 2503/4-0; 2008-2013), and an ongoing fMRI-/EEG-neurofeedback study (DFG SFB 636). Within a third-party-funded prevention project CIMH CAP has studied the effects of a home-based treatment for families of children with ADHD and antisocial behavior after a first criminal offense. This prevention study was carried out in cooperation with the Mannheim police department and is now established as regular treatment option of the youth welfare system of Mannheim City aiming at reducing the transition to manifest delinquency, a major sociopolitical issue.

One of the most recent achievements (2007-2013) was the participation in a large successfully completed BMBF-funded RCT-network on ADHD psychotherapy, in which children with ADHD and their affected mothers were treated sequentially in a trans-generational multi-centre RCT (BMBF-01GV0605). Results are currently analyzed and published. A randomized controlled multi-site trial (Cologne, Mannheim, Marburg, industry-sponsored investigator-initiated trial) on the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acids in preschool children with ADHD symptomatology is underway.

German and European clinical guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD are currently developed in interdisciplinary cooperation (Taylor et al., 2004; Banaschewski et al., 2006; Graham et al., 2012; Cortese et al., 2013; Sonuga-Barke et al., 2013) under pivotal involvement of the CIMH CAP (coordinator of German guidelines) and accompanied by systematic evaluations funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).

Previous results of the WG ADHD demonstrated that monoaminergic transporters on platelets represent an easy accessible peripheral system to study transporter regulation due to psychopharmacotherapy (Frankhauser et al. 2006). The WG ADHD established an in vitro model, using a MEG-01-derived megacaryocyte-cell-culture system, and characterized the cell surface expression of SERT and DAT via immunoctochemistry and flow cytometry (in cooperation with the Biochemical Laboratory and the WG Stress-related disorders, Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the CIMH). A current study examines the influences of MPH and other agents on platelet function as well as on SERT and DAT expression during thrombopoiesis.