Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Developing a Rat Model for Bipolar Disorder
Published on: May 2, 2025
Neurochemical pathology in hippocampus in euthymic patients with bipolar I disorder
H Scherk1, M Backens, T Schneider-Axmann
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany. hscherk@uni-goettingen.de
Objective:
Subcortical regions such as hippocampus, thalamus and ventral putamen are assumed to be involved in the pathophysiology of mood regulation. Disturbed hippocampal neuronal function indicated by reduced N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels in bipolar patients was shown by several studies. Results in thalamus and putamen are inconsistent.
Method:
N-acetyl-aspartate, choline (Cho), creatine (Cr) and myo-inositol (Ins) were measured in left hippocampus, left thalamus and left putamen using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in 13 euthymic patients with bipolar I disorder and 13 pairwise matched healthy control subjects. Metabolic ratios NAA/Cr, NAA/Cho, Cho/Cr and Ins/Cr were calculated.
Results:
Patients with bipolar I disorder demonstrated significantly reduced NAA/Cr in the left hippocampus compared with healthy control subjects. No alterations were found in thalamus or putamen.
Conclusion:
We hypothesize that this NAA/Cr reduction might reflect neuronal dysfunction in the left hippocampus in patients with bipolar disorder.
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