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The Karolinska Institutet (KI), Department of Woman & Child Health is represented by the
Neuropaediatric Unit
The Neuropaediatric Unit, located at the Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, is the largest neuropaediatric research centre in Sweden (total
staff about 200). It is the regional health centre for the whole Stockholm area (2 million inhabitants), and performs secondary care for the northern part of Stockholm. The medical staff consists of 20
medical specialists in child neurology, psychiatry and rehabilitation. Thus, the unit has access to a large geographic population of patients and has started to build a data and tissue base on children
with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), which is the most frequent neuropsychiatric disorder with unknown aetiology in the paediatric population.
The research unit consists of about 30 senior and junior scientists. Our facilities include behavioural laboratories for motor-, executive and
cognitive studies, PET scanner for ligand studies, MR scanner for functional brain imaging, and an endocrine laboratory. The research programmes at the Neuropaediatric Unit are aimed at increasing the
understanding of neuro-developmental disorders in children by using multidisciplinary approaches and performing both clinical and basic research. In particular members of the Unit are studying the
neuronal mechanisms leading to altered cognitive and motor functions.
Participation in the EUPEAH project will enable us to increase the extent of collaborative networking with pre-clinical laboratories that have
expertise in research areas complementary to our clinical research. Of particular significance will be the collaboration with the Laboratory for Behavioural Neurobiology at The Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology and with the German Primate Centre to validate similar tests used in children with ADHD as for behavioural tests in the marmoset monkeys, and therefore potentially develop a primate model of
ADHD. Moreover, basic researchers and students from the Unit will be incorporated into in vivo brain imaging studies and later investigations of the marmoset brains.
Contribution to the project:
application of our clinical experience in the development and use of non-viable neuropsychological tests with children suffering from
the frequent neurodevelopmental disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to the validation of identical or near-identical tests in marmoset monkeys, neuroanatomical analysis of the monkey brains by using confocal microscopy, development of hypothesis to be tested in the clinic, based on the direct experience with the study of the effects of prenatal
DEX-exposure in developing marmosets.
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