title: Impaired sustained attention in euthymic bipolar disorder patients and non-affected relatives: an fMRI study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Behavioral deficits in sustained attention have been reported during both acute and euthymic phases of type I bipolar disorder (BD-I) and also in non-affected relatives of bipolar disorder (BD) patients. In particular, selective failure in target recognition was proposed as a potential trait marker for BD, but there are few studies exploring the neural correlates. The aim of the present study was to analyze the behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response of euthymic BD-I patients and non-affected relatives during a sustained attention task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four euthymic BD-I patients, 22 non-affected first-degree relatives of BD-I subjects, and 24 matched controls underwent a continuous performance test (CPT) with two levels of difficulty during event-related fMRI scanning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both patients and relatives showed a lower accuracy in target detection when compared to controls. The fMRI data analysis revealed between-group differences in several brain regions involved in sustained attention. During error in target recognition, both patients and relatives showed a larger activation in the bilateral insula and the posterior part of the middle cingulate cortex. By contrast, during correct target response, only patients failed to activate the right insula, whereas relatives showed an increased activation of the left insula and bilateral inferior parietal lobule - limited to the higher attention load - and an augmented deactivation of the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A selective impairment in target recognition during a CPT was behaviorally and functionally detectable in both euthymic BD-I patients and non-affected first-degree relatives, suggesting that specific sustained attention deficits may be a potential trait marker for BD-I.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy. g.sepede@unich.it
authors.forename: Gianna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sepede
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Berardis
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campanella
authors.forename: Mauro Gianni
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Perrucci
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferretti
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Serroni
authors.forename: Francesco Saverio
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Moschetta
authors.forename: Cosimo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Gratta
authors.forename: Rosa Maria
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Salerno
authors.forename: Filippo Maria
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Giannantonio
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onofrj
authors.forename: Gian Luca
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Romani
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gambi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001364:Awareness; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen