Gray matter of first-degree bipolar-patient relatives same as general population

Unaffected first-degree relatives of bipolar disorder patients show no differences in gray-matter volume compared with other healthy adults, Dr. Fabiano G. Nery of the University of São Paulo and colleagues reported.

Investigators took magnetic resonance images of the brains of 25 patients with bipolar disorder, 23 unaffected relatives, and 27 healthy controls recruited from outpatient facilities at the university and the local community. The total gray-matter volume from images was 646.64 mL plus or minus 71.87 among bipolar disorder patients, 645.97 mL plus or minus 48.20 in unaffected relatives, and 637.87 mL plus or minus 62.50 in healthy controls, indicating no significant differences. Bipolar disorder patients, however, had reduced gray-matter volumes in the bilateral thalamus, compared with healthy controls.

This finding was present after controlling for possible confounding effects of age and gender, suggesting that the thalamus “may be involved in the neurocircuitry responsible for the clinical manifestations of” bipolar disorder, they wrote.

“These results suggest that there is no structural endophenotype for [bipolar disorder] and support the role of the thalamus in the pathophysiology of” bipolar disorder, the authors noted.

Read the article in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging (doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.09.005).

Unaffected first-degree relatives of bipolar disorder patients show no differences in gray-matter volume compared with other healthy adults, Dr. Fabiano G. Nery of the University of São Paulo and colleagues reported.

Investigators took magnetic resonance images of the brains of 25 patients with bipolar disorder, 23 unaffected relatives, and 27 healthy controls recruited from outpatient facilities at the university and the local community. The total gray-matter volume from images was 646.64 mL plus or minus 71.87 among bipolar disorder patients, 645.97 mL plus or minus 48.20 in unaffected relatives, and 637.87 mL plus or minus 62.50 in healthy controls, indicating no significant differences. Bipolar disorder patients, however, had reduced gray-matter volumes in the bilateral thalamus, compared with healthy controls.

This finding was present after controlling for possible confounding effects of age and gender, suggesting that the thalamus “may be involved in the neurocircuitry responsible for the clinical manifestations of” bipolar disorder, they wrote.

“These results suggest that there is no structural endophenotype for [bipolar disorder] and support the role of the thalamus in the pathophysiology of” bipolar disorder, the authors noted.

Read the article in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging (doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.09.005).

Unaffected first-degree relatives of bipolar disorder patients show no differences in gray-matter volume compared with other healthy adults, Dr. Fabiano G. Nery of the University of São Paulo and colleagues reported.

Investigators took magnetic resonance images of the brains of 25 patients with bipolar disorder, 23 unaffected relatives, and 27 healthy controls recruited from outpatient facilities at the university and the local community. The total gray-matter volume from images was 646.64 mL plus or minus 71.87 among bipolar disorder patients, 645.97 mL plus or minus 48.20 in unaffected relatives, and 637.87 mL plus or minus 62.50 in healthy controls, indicating no significant differences. Bipolar disorder patients, however, had reduced gray-matter volumes in the bilateral thalamus, compared with healthy controls.

This finding was present after controlling for possible confounding effects of age and gender, suggesting that the thalamus “may be involved in the neurocircuitry responsible for the clinical manifestations of” bipolar disorder, they wrote.

“These results suggest that there is no structural endophenotype for [bipolar disorder] and support the role of the thalamus in the pathophysiology of” bipolar disorder, the authors noted.

Read the article in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging (doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.09.005).