Abnormal anterior cingulum integrity in bipolar disorder determined through diffusion tensor imaging.
BACKGROUND
Convergent evidence implicates white matter abnormalities in bipolar disorder. The cingulum is an important candidate structure for study in bipolar disorder as it provides substantial white matter connections within the corticolimbic neural system that subserves emotional regulation involved in the disorder.


OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that bipolar disorder is associated with abnormal white matter integrity in the cingulum.


METHODS
Fractional anisotropy in the anterior and posterior cingulum was compared between 42 participants with bipolar disorder and 42 healthy participants using diffusion tensor imaging.


RESULTS
Fractional anisotropy was significantly decreased in the anterior cingulum in the bipolar disorder group compared with the healthy group (P=0.003); however, fractional anisotropy in the posterior cingulum did not differ significantly between groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate abnormalities in the structural integrity of the anterior cingulum in bipolar disorder. They extend evidence that supports involvement of the neural system comprising the anterior cingulate cortex and its corticolimbic gray matter connection sites in bipolar disorder to implicate abnormalities in the white matter connections within the system provided by the cingulum.
Wang
Fei
F
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. fei.wang@yale.edu
Jackowski
Marcel
M
Kalmar
Jessica H
JH
Chepenik
Lara G
LG
Tie
Karen
K
Qiu
Maolin
M
Gong
Gaolang
G
Pittman
Brian P
BP
Jones
Monique M
MM
Shah
Maulik P
MP
Spencer
Linda
L
Papademetris
Xenophon
X
Constable
R Todd
RT
Blumberg
Hilary P
HP
D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D013223:Statistics as Topic