Novel pharmacological targets for GABAergic dysfunction in ADHD

Abstract

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopment disorder that affects approximately 5% of the population. The disorder is characterized by impulsivity, hyperactivity, and deficits in attention and cognition, although symptoms vary across patients due to the heterogenous and polygenic nature of the disorder. Stimulant medications are the standard of care treatment for ADHD patients, and their effectiveness has led to the dopaminergic hypothesis of ADHD in which deficits in dopaminergic signaling, especially in cortical brain regions, mechanistically underly ADHD pathophysiology. Despite their effectiveness in many individuals, almost one-third of patients do not respond to stimulant treatments and the long-term negative side effects of these medications remain unclear. Emerging clinical evidence is beginning to highlight an important role of dysregulated excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance in ADHD. These deficits in E/I balance are related to functional abnormalities in glutamate and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) signaling in the brain, with increasing emphasis placed on GABAergic interneurons driving specific aspects of ADHD pathophysiology. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have also highlighted how genes associated with GABA function are mutated in human populations with ADHD, resulting in the generation of several new genetic mouse models of ADHD. This review will discuss how GABAergic dysfunction underlies ADHD pathophysiology, and how specific receptors/proteins related to GABAergic interneuron dysfunction may be pharmacologically targeted to treat ADHD in subpopulations with specific comorbidities and symptom domains.This article is part of the Special Issue on “PFC circuit function in psychiatric disease and relevant models”.