Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 58, Issue 2, 15 July 2005, Pages 151-157
Biological Psychiatry

Original article
Changes in Gray Matter Volume in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.03.022Get rights and content

Background

Several lines of evidence suggest the presence of neurofunctional abnormalities in patients with bipolar disorder. These functional abnormalities may stem from structural pathology in these or connected brain regions. Previous studies have generally used a region of interest (ROI) approach to study morphologic changes in bipolar disorder with inconsistent findings among research groups, which may reflect differences in how ROIs are defined. Voxel based morphometry (VBM) allows a more exploratory analysis without the necessity for predefined anatomic boundaries. In this study we utilized VBM to compare gray matter volume between groups of bipolar and healthy subjects.

Methods

Thirty-two patients with bipolar disorder and 27 healthy subjects participated in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. MRI images were segmented, normalized to a standard stereotactic space, and compared on a voxel-by-voxel basis using statistical parametric mapping.

Results

Bipolar subjects showed increased gray matter in several regions including portions of anterior cingulate, ventral prefrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus and parts of the primary and supplementary motor cortex. Bipolar subjects showed decreased gray matter volume in superior parietal lobule.

Conclusions

These data support suggestions that neurofunctional deficits are related to structural brain abnormalities in patients with bipolar disorder. The increased gray matter observed in several regions suggests that some affected areas may demonstrate volumetric expansion, at least in some patient populations.

Section snippets

Participants

Thirty-two patients with bipolar disorder, type I were recruited from ongoing outcome studies and twenty-seven healthy subjects were recruited in response to local advertisement or by word of mouth. Bipolar and healthy subjects did not statistically differ in age, education, sex, or handedness (Table 1). Subjects with bipolar disorder were free of concurrent axis I psychiatric or medical illness, including substance use disorders (with the exception of nicotine addiction). No healthy subjects

Results

Patients with bipolar disorder showed increased gray matter volume in portions of the anterior cingulate, and of the ventral prefrontal cortex. Increased gray matter was also observed in the temporal cortex, including a portion of the left fusiform gyrus, and in areas involved with motor control, including parts of the supplemental motor cortex and the left precentral gyrus (Figure 1,Table 2). Between group separation was particularly consistent across individuals within each group in the

Discussion

In this study we observed increased gray matter volume in bipolar subjects in several regions hypothesized to be part of the anterior limbic network, and to play a role in emotional regulation, attention, and impulse control. These include portions of the anterior cingulate, the ventral prefrontal cortex, and the fusiform gyrus. In addition, we observed increased gray matter volume in portions of the primary and secondary motor cortex. Decreased gray matter was observed only in a portion of the

References (44)

  • R.B. Sassi et al.

    Reduced left anterior cingulate volumes in untreated bipolar patients

    Biol Psychiatry

    (2004)
  • M. Wilke et al.

    Gray matter changes and correlates of disease severity in schizophreniaA statistical parametric mapping study

    Neuroimage

    (2001)
  • M. Wilke et al.

    Voxel-based morphometry in adolescents with bipolar disorderFirst results

    Psychiatry Res

    (2004)
  • C.M. Adler et al.

    Changes in neuronal activation in patients with bipolar disorder during performance of a working memory task

    Bipolar Disorder

    (2004)
  • J. Ashburner et al.

    Nonlinear spatial normalization using basis functions

    Hum Brain Mapp

    (1999)
  • P. Brambilla et al.

    Differential effects of age on brain gray matter in bipolar patients and healthy individuals

    Neuropsychobiology

    (2001)
  • J.L. Beyer et al.

    Volumetric brain imaging findings in mood disorders

    Bipolar Disord

    (2002)
  • H.P. Blumberg et al.

    Significance of adolescent neurodevelopment for the neural circuitry of bipolar disorder

    Ann N Y Acad Sci

    (2004)
  • H.P. Blumberg et al.

    A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of bipolar disorderState- and trait-related dysfunction in ventral prefrontal cortices

    Arch Gen Psychiatry

    (2003)
  • H.P. Blumberg et al.

    Frontostriatal abnormalities in adolescents with bipolar disorderPreliminary observations from functional MRI

    Am J Psychiatry

    (2003)
  • M. Brett

    The MNI brain and the Talairach atlas, [Online]

    (2002)
  • S.D. Bruno et al.

    A study of bipolar disorder using magnetization transfer imaging and voxel-based morphometry

    Brain

    (2004)

    • Cited by (0)

    View full text
    Copyright © 2005 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.