PERIOD3 (PER3) Gene Expression Differs Between ADHD and Healthy Controls after Norepinephrine Exposal: an Ex-Vivo Study with Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Human dermal fibroblasts HDF were obtained via skin biopsy from healthy controls (HC) (3 men, 1 woman; 42.00 ± 15.38 years, mean ± SD) and volunteers suffering from ADHD (1 man, 3 women; 38.75 ± 8.15 years, mean ± SD). Cells were cultivated at 37 °C and 5% CO2. All participants completed the Multiple-Choice Word Test (IQ score: HC: 115.25 ± 10.04, mean ± SD; ADHD participants:110.25 ± 17.01, mean ± SD, n.s), German Morningness-Eveningness-Questionnaire (D-MEQ Score: HC: 50.00 ± 3.74, mean ± SD; ADHD participants: 53.50 ± 9.54, mean ± SD, n.s) and Wender Utah Rating Scale, German short-version (WURSk Score: HC: 13.75 ± 9.98, mean ± SD; ADHD participants: 31.75 ± 6.94, mean ± SD, p = 0.025). HDF were incubated for 24h with 0.1 or 1µM norepinephrine (NE) followed of dexamethasone synchronization. HDF without NE incubation were used as negative control. After synchronization sampling was performed every forth hour for a period of 28 hours. CLOCK, BMAL1, CRY1, PER1/2/3 gene expression was measured by qRT-PCR. Statistics were calculated using SPSS.