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Structural dysconnectivity of key cognitive and emotional hubs in young people at high genetic risk for bipolar disorder
- Source :
- Molecular Psychiatry
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Emerging evidence suggests that psychiatric disorders are associated with disturbances in structural brain networks. Little is known, however, about brain networks in those at high risk (HR) of bipolar disorder (BD), with such disturbances carrying substantial predictive and etiological value. Whole-brain tractography was performed on diffusion-weighted images acquired from 84 unaffected HR individuals with at least one first-degree relative with BD, 38 young patients with BD and 96 matched controls (CNs) with no family history of mental illness. We studied structural connectivity differences between these groups, with a focus on highly connected hubs and networks involving emotional centres. HR participants showed lower structural connectivity in two lateralised sub-networks centred on bilateral inferior frontal gyri and left insular cortex, as well as increased connectivity in a right lateralised limbic sub-network compared with CN subjects. BD was associated with weaker connectivity in a small right-sided sub-network involving connections between fronto-temporal and temporal areas. Although these sub-networks preferentially involved structural hubs, the integrity of the highly connected structural backbone was preserved in both groups. Weaker structural brain networks involving key emotional centres occur in young people at genetic risk of BD and those with established BD. In contrast to other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, the structural core of the brain remains intact, despite the local involvement of network hubs. These results add to our understanding of the neurobiological correlates of BD and provide predictions for outcomes in young people at high genetic risk for BD.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Bipolar Disorder
Adolescent
Emotions
Prefrontal Cortex
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Cognition
0302 clinical medicine
Risk Factors
Connectome
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
medicine
Humans
Dementia
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Bipolar disorder
Young adult
Molecular Biology
Cerebral Cortex
Brain Mapping
Brain
medicine.disease
Mental illness
030227 psychiatry
Psychiatry and Mental health
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Schizophrenia
Behavioral medicine
Original Article
Female
Psychology
Neuroscience
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Tractography
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14765578 and 13594184
- Volume :
- 23
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Molecular Psychiatry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....dafed8143da85d7e60f4ba73e8555736