Parisa Mousavi
1, Bahram Pourghassem Gargari
2*, Masoud Darabi
3, Ayyoub Malek
4, Shahrokh Amiri
4, Yalda Jabbari Moghaddam
5, Amir Mehdizadeh
61 Department of Nutrition and Diet Therapy, School of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Department of Nutrition and Diet Therapy, Nutrition Research Center, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratories, School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4 Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychiatry Research Center, School of Medicine , Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
5 Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
6 Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratories, Liver and Gastrointestinal Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental diseases in children. Fatty acids are important components of nerve cell myelin. Essential fatty acid deficiency leads to behavioral abnormalities similar to nervous disorders, such as ADHD. The purpose of this study was to determine the composition of fatty acids in plasma phospholipids and whole erythrocyte in the ADHD boys.
Methods: This is a case-control study in which 36 boys with ADHD and 37 boys without ADHD -aged 6-12 years- were participated. ADHD children were diagnosed with clinical diagnosis and psychiatric questionnaires by a psychiatrist. Then fatty acids of plasma phospholipids and whole erythrocyte were extracted.
Results: The mean content of sum of saturated fatty acids (P=0.004) and arachidonic acid (P<0.001) of plasma phospholipids were significantly lower and mean concentrations of oleic acid (P<0.001) and sum of monoenes (P<0.001) were significantly higher in the ADHD group compared to the control one. However in the total RBC, the mean concentrations of stearic acid (P=0.003), arachidonic acid (P=0.04) and α-linolenic (P=0.02) acid were significantly lower and the mean content of linoleic acid (P=0.01) was significantly higher in the ADHD group compared to the control one.
Conclusion: Fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipids and RBC in the ADHD children differed from that of the non-ADHD children.