TY - JOUR
T1 - Illness duration and total brain gray matter in bipolar disorder
T2 - Evidence for neurodegeneration?
AU - Frey, Benicio N.
AU - Zunta-Soares, Giovana B.
AU - Caetano, Sheila C.
AU - Nicoletti, Mark A.
AU - Hatch, John P.
AU - Brambilla, Paolo
AU - Mallinger, Alan G.
AU - Soares, Jair C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was partly supported by MH 68766, MH 69774, RR 20571, NARSAD, Veterans Administration (Merit Review) and the Krus Endowed Chair in Psychiatry (UTHSCSA). The sponsors had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - Previous studies have suggested that bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with alterations in neuronal plasticity, but the effects of the progression of illness on brain anatomy have been poorly investigated. We studied the correlation between length of illness, age, age at onset, and the number of previous episodes and total brain, total gray, and total white matter volumes in BD, unipolar (UP) and healthy control (HC) subjects. Thirty-six BD, 31 UP and 55 HCs underwent a 1.5 T brain magnetic resonance imaging scan, and gray and white matter volumes were manually traced blinded to the subjects' diagnosis. Partial correlation analysis showed that length of illness was inversely correlated with total gray matter volume after adjusting for total intracranial volume in BD (rp = - 0.51; p = 0.003) but not in UP subjects (rp = - 0.23; p = 0.21). Age at illness onset and the number of previous episodes were not significantly correlated with gray matter volumes in BD or UP subjects. No significant correlation with total white matter volume was observed. These results suggest that the progression of illness may be associated with abnormal cellular plasticity. Prospective longitudinal studies are necessary to elucidate the long-term effects of illness progression on brain structure in major mood disorders.
AB - Previous studies have suggested that bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with alterations in neuronal plasticity, but the effects of the progression of illness on brain anatomy have been poorly investigated. We studied the correlation between length of illness, age, age at onset, and the number of previous episodes and total brain, total gray, and total white matter volumes in BD, unipolar (UP) and healthy control (HC) subjects. Thirty-six BD, 31 UP and 55 HCs underwent a 1.5 T brain magnetic resonance imaging scan, and gray and white matter volumes were manually traced blinded to the subjects' diagnosis. Partial correlation analysis showed that length of illness was inversely correlated with total gray matter volume after adjusting for total intracranial volume in BD (rp = - 0.51; p = 0.003) but not in UP subjects (rp = - 0.23; p = 0.21). Age at illness onset and the number of previous episodes were not significantly correlated with gray matter volumes in BD or UP subjects. No significant correlation with total white matter volume was observed. These results suggest that the progression of illness may be associated with abnormal cellular plasticity. Prospective longitudinal studies are necessary to elucidate the long-term effects of illness progression on brain structure in major mood disorders.
KW - Bipolar disorder
KW - Brain imaging
KW - Gray matter
KW - Major depressive disorder
KW - Pathophysiology
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U2 - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2008.04.015
DO - 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2008.04.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 18554875
AN - SCOPUS:49649116091
VL - 18
SP - 717
EP - 722
JO - European Neuropsychopharmacology
JF - European Neuropsychopharmacology
SN - 0924-977X
IS - 10
ER -