title: Increased pituitary volume in patients with established bipolar affective disorder.
abstract: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction has been demonstrated in bipolar disorder (BD), but previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of pituitary gland volume in BD have reported variable findings. In this MRI study we investigated pituitary volume in 26 patients with established bipolar I disorder (8 males and 18 females, mean age=38.4 years) and 24 matched controls (7 males and 17 females, mean age=38.7 years). The BD patients had a significantly larger pituitary volume as compared with controls, but there was no association between pituitary volume and illness duration, number of manic/depressive episodes, daily medication dosage, family history, or clinical subtype (i.e., psychotic and nonpsychotic). Pituitary volume was larger in females than in males for both groups. These results support previous neuroendocrine findings that implicate HPA axis dysfunction in the core pathophysiological process of BD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia. tsutomu@med.u-toyama.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Gin S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Malhi
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walterfang
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yücel
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lorenzetti
authors.forename: Bridget
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Soulsby
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Velakoulis
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pantelis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic