Relationships Between Altered Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activation and Cortical Thickness in Patients With Euthymic Bipolar I Disorder

Background Performance during cognitive control functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks are associated with frontal lobe hypoactivation in patients with bipolar disorder, even while euthymic. We examine the structural underpinnings for this functional abnormality simultaneously with brain activation data. Methods In a sample of 90 adults (45 with interepisode bipolar I disorder and 45 healthy controls), we explored abnormal functional activation patterns in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder during a Go/NoGo fMRI task and their associations with regional deficits in cortical gray matter thickness. Cross-sectional differences in fMRI activation were used to form a priori hypotheses for region of interest cortical gray matter thickness analyses. Blood oxygen level–dependent fMRI to structural magnetic resonance imaging thickness correlations were conducted across the sample and within patients and controls separately. Results During response inhibition (NoGo − Go), patients with bipolar I disorder showed significant hypoactivation and reduced thickness in the inferior frontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, and cingulate compared to controls. Cingulate hypoactivation corresponded with reduced regional thickness. A significant activation by disease state interaction was observed with thickness in left prefrontal areas. Conclusions Reduced cingulate fMRI activation is associated with reduced cortical thickness. In the left frontal lobe, a thinner cortex was associated with increased fMRI activation in patients but showed a reverse trend in controls. These findings suggest that reduced activation in the inferior frontal cortex and cingulate during a response inhibition task may have an underlying structural etiology, which may explain task-related functional hypoactivation that persists even when patients are euthymic.