Smaller left anterior cingulate cortex in non-bipolar relatives of patients with bipolar disorder
Marsal Sanches1,2, Edilberto Amorim3, Benson Mwangi1
1UT Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Objective:
Bipolar disorder (BD) is highly heritable. The present study aimed at identifying brain morphometric features that could represent markers of BD vulnerability in non-bipolar relatives of bipolar patients.
Methods:
In the present study, structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were acquired from a total of 93 subjects, including 31 patients with BD, 31 non-bipolar relatives of BD patients, and 31 healthy controls. Volumetric measurements of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), lateral ventricles, amygdala, and hippocampus were completed using the automated software FreeSurfer.
Results:
Analysis of covariance (with age, gender, and intracranial volume as covariates) indicated smaller left ACC volumes in unaffected relatives as compared to healthy controls and BD patients (p = 0.004 and p = 0.037, respectively). No additional statistically significant differences were detected for other brain structures.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest smaller left ACC volume as a viable biomarker candidate for BD.
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