Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a comparative analysis of genetic and brain network connectivity

Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe psychiatric conditions with overlapping clinical presentations, genetic risk factors, and brain network dysfunction. Whether alterations in large-scale intrinsic brain networks reflect shared or disorder-specific genetic influences remains poorly understood. Clarifying this distinction is essential for refining etiological models and improving diagnostic precision.

Genome-wide inferred statistics (GWIS) were applied to decompose the genetic architecture of SCZ and BD into shared and unique components. Using resting-state network (RSN) data from the UK Biobank, functional connectivity (FC) and structural connectivity (SC) were extracted as neuroimaging phenotypes. Causal inference approaches were subsequently employed to infer potential directional relationships between brain network connectivity and each disorder.

Analyses revealed both common and distinct patterns of brain network connectivity associated with SCZ and BD. Notably, SC within the default mode network (DMN) exhibited opposing effects across the two disorders, suggesting divergent structural underpinnings despite clinical overlap. Additionally, SC within the limbic network (LN) and frontotemporal control network demonstrated potential causal relationships with both conditions, implicating these circuits astransdiagnostic neural substrates.

These findings illuminate the shared and disorder-specific genetic and neural architecture underlying SCZ and BD. Integrating genome-wide genetic methods with large-scale neuroimaging data offers a powerful framework for disentangling psychiatric comorbidity and may inform more targeted diagnostic criteria and individualized treatment strategies.