Structural brain changes in bipolar disorder using deformation field morphometry.
The objective of this study was to investigate anatomical brain abnormalities in adult bipolar patients using a deformation field morphometry technique. Our sample consisted of 32 right-handed bipolar I patients (men/women=16/16) and 32 right-handed, age and gender matched healthy controls. Deformation field morphometry analysis was performed on three-dimensional spoiled gradient recalled acquisition images. We found gender-specific structural differences between bipolar patients and healthy individuals. Bipolar men had significantly larger lateral ventricles (especially pronounced in the left hemisphere) and smaller left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex than healthy male controls. Our results are complementary to the findings of functional imaging and post-mortem studies that demonstrate abnormalities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in bipolar patients.
Soares
Jair C
JC
Division of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Audie L. Murphy Division, San Antonio, Texas, USA. soares@uthscsa.edu
Kochunov
Peter
P
Monkul
E Serap
ES
Nicoletti
Mark A
MA
Brambilla
Paolo
P
Sassi
Roberto B
RB
Mallinger
Alan G
AG
Frank
Ellen
E
Kupfer
David J
DJ
Lancaster
Jack
J
Fox
Peter
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D020547:Lateral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics