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Sequence analysis of the ADRA2A coding region in children affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral pathology characterized by distinct degrees of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Although ADHD etiology remains elusive, the ADRA2A candidate gene underlies a particular interest, since it participates in the prefrontal cortex regulation of executive function. Three SNPs located on 5′ and 3′UTR regions of the gene have been extensively explored but none of them have been definitely validated as a predisposition or a causative sequence variation. In this study, in order to determine whether ADRA2A non-synonymous sequence variants, resulting in biochemical modifications of the protein, are a common cause of the disease we sequenced the complete ADRA2A coding region in a panel of ADHD children of Colombian origin. We identified the c.1138 C>A (p.Arg380Arg) silent substitution. We conclude that ADRA2A non-synonymous sequence variants do not cause ADHD in our sample population. We cannot formerly discard a potential role of this gene during ADHD pathogenesis since only the coding region was analysed. We hope that these results will encourage further researchers to sequence the promoter and coding regions of ADRA2A in large panels of ADHD patients from distinct ethnical origins.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by The Universidad del Rosario (Grant CS-G-2012).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Genética. Grupo GENIUROS. Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Rosario, Carrera 24 N° 63C-69, Bogotá, Colombia

    Taryn Castro, Heidi Eliana Mateus, Dora Janeth Fonseca, Carlos Martín Restrepo & Paul Laissue

  2. Grupo Neurociencias, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia

    Claudia Talero & Alberto Vélez

  3. Departamento de Genética Molecular, Genética Molecular de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Dora Janeth Fonseca, Carlos Martín Restrepo & Paul Laissue

  4. Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia

    Diego Forero

Authors
  1. Taryn Castro
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  2. Heidi Eliana Mateus
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  3. Dora Janeth Fonseca
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  4. Diego Forero
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  5. Carlos Martín Restrepo
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  6. Claudia Talero
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  7. Alberto Vélez
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  8. Paul Laissue
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Laissue.

Additional information

T. Castro and H. E. Mateus contributed equally to this work.

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Castro, T., Mateus, H.E., Fonseca, D.J. et al. Sequence analysis of the ADRA2A coding region in children affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Neurol Sci 34, 2219–2222 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-013-1569-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-013-1569-4

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