4.7 Article Proceedings Paper

Reduced left anterior cingulate volumes in untreated bipolar patients

Journal

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
Volume 56, Issue 7, Pages 467-475

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.07.005

Keywords

affective disorders; bipolar disorder; cingulate; mood disorders; MRI; neuroimaging

Funding

  1. NIMH NIH HHS [MH 30915, MH 01736, MH 29618] Funding Source: Medline

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Background: Functional and morphologic abnormalities of the cingulate cortex have been reported in mood disorder patients. To examine the involvement of anatomic abnormalities of the cingulate in bipolar disorder, we measured the volumes of this structure in untreated and lithium-treated bipolar patients and healthy contrl subjects, using magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: the volume of gray matter at the right and left anterior and posteriorcingulate cortices were measured in 11 bipolar patientsnot taking any psychotropic medications (aged 38 +/-11 years, 5 women), 16 bipolar patients treated with lithium monotherapy (aged 33 +/- 11 years, 7 women), and 39 healthy control subjects (aged 37 +/- 10 years, 14 women). Volumetric measurements were made with T1-weighted control MRI images, with 1.5 mm-thick slices. at 1.5T, and were done blindly. Results: Using analysis of covariance with age and intracranial volume as covariates, we found that untreated bipolar patients had decreased left anterior cingulate with age and intracranial volume compared with healthy control subjects [2.4 +/- .3cm(3) and 2.9 +/- .6cm(3), respectively, F(1.58) = 6.4, p = 0.42] and compared with the lithium-treated patients [3.3 +/- .5cm(3) : F(1.58) = 11.7, p = .003]. The cingulate volumes in lithium-treated patients were not significantly different from those of healthy control subjects. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that anatomic abnormalities in left anterior cingulate are present in bipolar patients. Furthermore our results suggest that lithium treatment might influence cingulate volumes in bipolar patients, which could possibly reflect postulated neuroprotective effects of lithium.

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