Abnormal functional connectivity of the intrinsic networks in adolescent bipolar I versus bipolar II disorder

The symptoms of pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD)-I and PBD-II differ, but accurate identification at an early stage is difficult and may prevent effective treatment of this disorder. Therefore, it is urgent to elucidate a biological marker based on objective imaging indicators to help distinguish the two. Therefore, this research aims to compare the functional connectivity between PBD-I patient and PBD-II patient in different brain networks.

Our study enrolled 31 PBD-I and 23 PBD-II patients from 12 to 17 years of age. They were analyzed by resting state-functional connectivity through Independent component analysis (ICA).

We found differences between PBD-I and PBD-II in functional connectivity of the default network, frontoparietal network, salience network and limbic system. In addition, the clinical features, cognitive functions are associated with the functional connectivity of the intrinsic networks in PBD-I and PBD-II separately.

This research is the first to find differences in functional connectivity between PBD-I and PBD-II, suggesting that abnormality of the functional connectivity within large networks may be biomarkers that help differentiate PBD-I from PBD-II in the future.