Neural subgroups in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder during emotion regulation

Impaired emotion regulation has been proposed as a putative endophenotype in bipolar disorder (BD). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating this in unaffected first-degree relatives (UR) have thus far yielded incongruent findings. Hence, the current paper examines neural subgroups among UR during emotion regulation.

71 UR of patients with BD and 66 healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI scanning while performing an emotion regulation task. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on extracted signal change during emotion down-regulation in pre-defined regions of interest (ROIs). Identified subgroups were compared on neural activation, demographic, clinical, and cognitive variables.

Two subgroups of UR were identified: subgroup 1 (39 UR; 55%) was characterized by hypo-activity in the dorsolateral, dorsomedial, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the bilateral amygdalae, but comparable activation to HC in the other ROIs; subgroup 2 (32 UR; 45%) was characterized by hyperactivity in all ROIs. Subgroup 1 had lower success in emotion regulation compared to HC and reported more childhood trauma compared to subgroup 2 and HC. Subgroup 2 reported more anxiety, lower functioning, and greater attentional vigilance toward fearful faces compared to HC. Relatives from both subgroups were poorer in recognizing positive faces compared to HC.

These findings may explain the discrepancy in earlier fMRI studies on emotion regulation in UR, showing two different subgroups of UR that both exhibited aberrant neural activity during emotion regulation, but in opposite directions. Furthermore, the results suggest that impaired recognition of positive facial expressions is a broad endophenotype of BD.