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White matter volumes in youth offspring of bipolar parents
Fabiano G Nery1, Matthew Norris1, James C Eliassen1
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Insights
Youth at high risk for bipolar disorder show reduced white matter (WM) brain volumes before symptom onset. These WM changes may indicate familial risk for bipolar disorder, while gray matter (GM) volumes showed no differences.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatry
- Developmental Neuroscience
Background:
- Bipolar disorder (BD) research often focuses on affected individuals, but studying at-risk youth is crucial for understanding vulnerability.
- Identifying neurobiological markers in youth at high risk for BD can elucidate illness development.
- This study characterizes brain structure in at-risk youth to identify early indicators of BD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate baseline brain structure differences in youth with familial risk for bipolar disorder.
- To compare gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes between healthy controls and offspring of bipolar I parents.
- To determine if structural brain differences exist prior to the onset of psychiatric symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to acquire brain scans from 115 offspring of bipolar I parents and 57 healthy controls.
- Offspring of bipolar parents were categorized into healthy (n=47) or symptomatic (n=68) groups based on childhood psychopathology.
- Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was employed to compare regional GM and WM volumes across the groups.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in gray matter (GM) volumes were observed between any of the groups.
- Healthy offspring of bipolar parents exhibited decreased white matter (WM) volumes in specific frontal, temporal, and parietal regions compared to healthy controls.
- Symptomatic offspring of bipolar parents did not show significant WM volume differences compared to either healthy bipolar offspring or healthy controls.
Conclusions:
- Reduced white matter (WM) volumes in frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes may represent a neurobiological correlate of familial risk for bipolar disorder, detectable before symptom onset.
- This study did not find evidence of regional gray matter (GM) abnormalities as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder in this cohort.
- Early white matter (WM) alterations in at-risk youth warrant further investigation as potential biomarkers for bipolar disorder vulnerability.
Background:
Studying youth at high risk of developing bipolar disorder may clarify neurobiological factors associated with vulnerability to this illness. We present here a baseline characterization of brain structure in youth at-risk for bipolar disorder.
Methods:
Magnetic resonance images were obtained from 115 child and adolescent offspring of bipolar disorder type I subjects and 57 healthy child and adolescent offspring of healthy parents (healthy control offspring). Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder were divided into healthy bipolar offspring (n=47) or symptomatic bipolar offspring (n=68), according to presence or absence of childhood-onset psychopathology. All bipolar offspring were free of major mood and psychotic disorders. Gray (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes were compared between groups using voxel-based morphometry.
Results:
No differences in GM volumes were found across groups. Healthy bipolar offspring presented with decreased WM volumes in areas of the right frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, and in the left temporal and parietal lobes compared to healthy control offspring. Symptomatic bipolar offspring did not present with any differences in WM volumes compared to either healthy bipolar offspring or healthy control offspring.
Limitations:
Cross-sectional design and heterogeneous sample of symptomatic bipolar offspring.
Conclusions:
WM volume decreases in areas of the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes are present in bipolar offspring prior to the development of any psychiatric symptoms, and may be a correlate of familial risk to bipolar disorder. In this large cohort, we have not found evidence for regional GM volume abnormalities as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder.
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