Expanding the toolbox of ADHD genetics. How can we make sense of parent of origin effects in ADHD and related behavioral phenotypes?

Multi-omics approach reveals dysregulated genes during hESCs neuronal differentiation exposure to paracetamol

Prenatal paracetamol exposure has been associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood. Pharmacoepigenetic studies show differences in cord blood DNA methylation between unexposed and paracetamol-exposed neonates, however, causality and impact of long-term prenatal paracetamol exposure on brain development remain unclear. Using a multi-omics approach, we investigated the effects of paracetamol on an in vitro model of early human neurodevelopment. We exposed human embryonic stem cells undergoing neuronal differentiation with paracetamol concentrations corresponding to maternal therapeutic doses. Single-cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq integration identified paracetamol-induced chromatin opening changes linked to gene expression. Differentially methylated and/or expressed genes were involved in neurotransmission and cell fate determination trajectories. Some genes involved in neuronal injury and development-specific pathways, such as KCNE3, overlapped with differentially methylated genes previously identified in cord blood associated with prenatal paracetamol exposure. Our data suggest that paracetamol may play a causal role in impaired neurodevelopment.

Genome Guided Personalized Drug Therapy in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD is a common behavioral syndrome with a heritability of 70-80%. Genome wide sequencing and association studies indicate that ADHD risk variants are distributed across a wide range of allele frequencies and relative risks. Several common single nucleotide variants (SNPs) have been identified that increase the risk of ADHD with a few percent. Many of the reported risk genes and copy number variants are shared with other neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, ADHD often coexists with common or rare somatic diseases, including rare Mendelian neurometabolic diseases that can affect normal brain development and function. Some genetic/metabolic syndromes masquerading as common ADHD may lead to irreversible brain damage if not properly identified and treated during early childhood. As ADHD is such a heterogeneous condition in terms of severity, clinical features and most probably also underlying biology, it is crucial to offer individualized treatments. Recent progress in ADHD genetics is reviewed, prospects of using this information for targeted pharmacotherapy are discussed and critical knowledge gaps are identified. It is suggested that genome guided therapies could be introduced gradually, starting with rare ADHD syndromes with highly penetrant risk genes. Routine diagnostic application of whole exome or whole genome sequencing combined with metabolomic screening, and brain imaging may be needed in cases with suspected neurometabolic disorders. Identification and treatment of ADHD patients with defined neurometabolic aberrations could be a first step toward genome guided personalized treatment of ADHD. Possibly, screening for relevant biomarkers may gradually be implemented to guide treatment choices in larger patient groups.

Parent-of-origin effects on nuclear chromatin organization and behavior in a Drosophila model for Williams-Beuren Syndrome

Prognosis of neuropsychiatric disorders in progeny requires consideration of individual (1) parent-of-origin effects (POEs) relying on (2) the nerve cell nuclear 3D chromatin architecture and (3) impact of parent-specific miRNAs. Additionally, the shaping of cognitive phenotypes in parents depends on both learning acquisition and forgetting, or memory erasure. These processes are independent and controlled by different signal cascades: the first is cAMPdependent, the second relies on actin remodeling by small GTPase Rac1 - LIMK1 (LIM-kinase 1). Simple experimental model systems such as Drosophila help probe the causes and consequences leading to human neurocognitive pathologies. Recently, we have developed a Drosophila model for Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WBS): a mutant agn^ts3 of the agnostic locus (X:11AB) harboring the dlimk1 gene. The agn^ts3 mutation drastically increases the frequency of ectopic contacts (FEC) in specific regions of intercalary heterochromatin, suppresses learning/memory and affects locomotion. As is shown in this study, the polytene X chromosome bands in reciprocal hybrids between agn^ts3 and the wild type strain Berlin are heterogeneous in modes of FEC regulation depending either on maternal or paternal gene origin. Bioinformatic analysis reveals that FEC between X:11AB and the other X chromosome bands correlates with the occurrence of short (~30 bp) identical DNA fragments partly homologous to Drosophila 372-bp satellite DNA repeat. Although learning acquisition in a conditioned courtship suppression paradigm is similar in hybrids, the middle-term memory formation shows patroclinic inheritance. Seemingly, this depends on changes in miR-974 expression. Several parameters of locomotion demonstrate heterosis. Our data indicate that the agn^ts3 locus is capable of trans-regulating gene activity via POEs on the chromatin nuclear organization, thereby affecting behavior.

Sex differences in parent-offspring recurrence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

BACKGROUND

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder sharing genetic risk factors with other common psychiatric disorders. However, intergenerational recurrence patterns of ADHD from parents to sons and daughters are not known. We aimed to examine the risk of ADHD in offspring of parents with ADHD and parents with other psychiatric disorders by parental and offspring sex, using parents without the specific disorders as comparison.

METHODS

In a generation study linking data from several population-based registries, all Norwegians born 1967-2011 (n = 2,486,088; Medical Birth Registry of Norway) and their parents were followed to 2015. To estimate intergenerational recurrence risk, we calculated prevalence differences (PD) and the relative risk (RR) of ADHD in offspring by parental ADHD, bipolar disorder (BD), schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SCZ), major depression (MDD), all by parental and offspring sex.

RESULTS

The absolute prevalence of ADHD in offspring of parents with ADHD was very high, especially in sons of two affected parents (41.5% and 25.1% in sons and daughters, respectively), and far higher than in offspring of parents with BD, SCZ or MDD. Intergenerational recurrence risks were higher for maternal than paternal ADHD (RR_maternal 8.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.2-8.6 vs. RR_paternal 6.2, 6.0-6.4) and this was also true on the absolute scale (PD_maternal 21.1% (20.5-21.7) vs. PD_paternal 14.8% (14.3-15.4)). RRs were higher in daughters, while PDs higher in sons. Parental SCZ, BD and MDD were associated with an approximately doubled risk of offspring ADHD compared to parents without the respective disorders, and estimates did not differ significantly between daughters and sons.

CONCLUSIONS

The intergenerational recurrence risks of ADHD were high and higher from mothers with ADHD than fathers with ADHD. Other parental psychiatric disorders also conferred increased risk of offspring ADHD, but far lower, indicating a sex- and diagnosis-specific intergenerational recurrence risk in parents with ADHD.

Motor Transitions' Peculiarity of Heterozygous DAT Rats When Offspring of an Unconventional KOxWT Mating

Causal factors of psychiatric diseases are unclear, due to gene × environment interactions. Evaluation of consequences, after a dopamine-transporter (DAT) gene knock-out (DAT-KO), has enhanced our understanding into the pathological dynamics of several brain disorders, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Bipolar-Affective disorders. Recently, our attention has shifted to DAT hypo-functional (heterozygous, HET) rodents: HET dams display less maternal care and HET females display marked hypo-locomotion if cared by HET dams (Mariano et al., 2019). We assessed phenotypes of male DAT-heterozygous rats as a function of their parents: we compared "maternal" origin (MAT-HET, obtained by breeding KO-male rats with WT-female dams) to "mixed" origin (MIX-HET, obtained by classical breeding, both heterozygous parents) of the allele. MAT-HET subjects had significantly longer rhythms of daily locomotor activity than MIX-HET and WT-control subjects. Furthermore, acute methylphenidate (MPH: 0, 1, 2 mg/kg) revealed elevated threshold for locomotor stimulation in MAT-HETs, with no response to the lower dose. Finally, by Porsolt-Test, MAT-HETs showed enhanced escape-seeking (diving) with more transitions towards behavioral despair (floating). When comparing both MAT- and MIX-HET to WT-control rats, decreased levels of DAT and HDAC4 were evident in the ventral-striatum; moreover, with respect to MIX-HET subjects, MAT-HET ones displayed increased DAT density in dorsal-striatum. MAT-HET rats displayed region-specific changes in DAT expression, compared to "classical" MIX-HET subjects: greater DAT availability may elevate threshold for dopamine action. Further behavioral and epigenetic characterizations of MAT-HETs, together with deeper characterization of maternal roles, could help to explore parent-of-origin mechanisms for such a peculiar phenotype.

Epigenetics and ADHD: Toward an Integrative Approach of the Disorder Pathogenesis

OBJECTIVE

Epigenetic hypothesis is one of the research pathways used to explain the complex etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. This review highlights the findings of recent studies in the field of epigenetics in ADHD.

METHODS

An electronic literature search using Medline.

RESULTS

In the Gene × Environment interaction model, several clinical, genetic and molecular arguments support the epigenetic hypothesis in ADHD etiology. Environmental ADHD risk factors including toxic, nutritional factors and stressful life events lead to changes in DNA methylation and in histone modification levels. One critical CpG site located in the promoter of the DRD4 gene exhibited a specific pattern in ADHD children. A methylome wide exploration of DNA showed decreased methylation in vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor 2 gene, which was not replicated by further research.

CONCLUSION

Current data require consolidation and could lead to the identification of biomarkers and the introduction of new modalities of treatment.