Elucidating neural network functional connectivity abnormalities in bipolar disorder: toward a harmonized...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mood disorder marked by emotional instability.
• Functional MRI studies reveal altered brain functional connectivity in BD patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of existing literature on functional connectivity in bipolar disorder.
• To identify consistent themes and inconsistencies in current research findings.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search using PubMed and follow-up searches.
• Analysis of published research on functional connectivity in bipolar disorder.

Main Results:

• Consistent evidence of heightened functional connectivity between the amygdala and lateral ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in BD.
• Altered interactions involving medial PFC regions and reward circuitry (ventral striatum) are also implicated, though less consistently.
• Emerging research highlights global network abnormalities in BD.

Conclusions:

• Functional connectivity studies confirm altered PFC-amygdala interactions in BD.
• Future research should adopt large-scale, network-based, and dynamic analyses, integrating structural connectivity, to clarify neural circuitry abnormalities.