Retinal contrast transfer functions in adults with and without ADHD.

Emanuel Bubl,Dieter Ebert,Michael Dörr,Ludger Tebartz Van Elst,Alexandra Philipsen,Michael Bach

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061728

Emanuel Bubl, Dieter Ebert + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061728

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Citations: 46	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Freiburg

Abstract

In previous studies, we found a strong reduction in contrast perception and retinal contrast gain in patients with major depression, which normalized after remission of depression. We also identified a possible role of the dopaminergic system in this effect, because visual contrast perception depends on dopaminergic neurotransmission. Dopamine is also known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, in order to explore the specificity of retinal contrast gain as a marker of depression in comparison with other psychiatric diseases, we recorded the pattern electroretinogram (PERG) in patients with ADHD. Twenty patients diagnosed with ADHD and 20 matched healthy subjects were studied. Visual pattern electroretinograms were recorded from both eyes. The contrast gain of the patients with attention deficit disorder (ADD) did not differ from the control group, nor did the contrast gain of any ADHD subgroup (predominantly inattentive or combined patients). In the healthy subjects, a significant correlation between depression score and contrast gain was found. As the contrast gain in an earlier study clearly separated the patients with depression from the controls, we assume that retinal contrast gain might be a specific marker in depression.

Highlights

Increasing evidence points to abnormalities in vision in depressive disorder [1,2,3,4]
Contrast gain and the Beck depression inventory As in our earlier reports, we found a significant correlation between the BDI and retinal contrast in the control group (r = –.476; p = .039), despite the low variability of BDI ratings
The results demonstrate that the pattern electroretinogram, which was reduced in patients with major depression in previous studies [4,9], did not differ between the patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the controls

Summary

Introduction

Increasing evidence points to abnormalities in vision in depressive disorder [1,2,3,4]. The following study documented electrophysiologically a very strong reduction in pattern electroretinogram-based contrast gain in patients with major depression [4]. The pattern electroretinogram (PERG) is an electrophysiological response recorded at the cornea in response to visual pattern stimulation [6]. It predominantly represents the activity of the retinal ganglion cells [7,8] and, can serve as an objective surrogate marker of retinal information processing from the photoreceptors to the beginning of the optic nerve. The PERG-based contrast gain discriminated patients with major depression from controls with a specificity of 92.5% and a sensitivity of 77.5%. In a previous study [9], we found that this abnormality in contrast gain normalized in the context of remission of depression, whereas it remained abnormal when patients did not remit from depression, despite antidepressive therapy

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