Amygdala Enlargement in Unaffected Offspring of Bipolar Parents

Overview

Journal J Psychiatr Res

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2014 Sep 30

PMID 25263277

Citations 11

Authors

Isabelle E Bauer

Marsal Sanches

Robert Suchting

Charles E Green

Nadia M El Fangary

Giovana B Zunta-Soares

Jair C Soares

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a devastating disorder with a strong genetic component. While the frontolimbic profile of individuals suffering from BD is relatively well-established, there is still disagreement over the neuroanatomical features of unaffected BD offspring.

Material And Methods: Brain volumetric measures were obtained for 82 children and adolescents including 18 unaffected BD offspring (10.50 ± 3.37 years), 19 BD offspring suffering from psychiatric disorders (12.87 ± 3.28 years) and 45 healthy controls (HC-10.50 ± 3.37 years). Clinical diagnoses were established according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Cortical reconstruction and volumetric segmentation were performed with the Freesurfer image analysis suite. Profile analyses compared frontolimbic volumes across groups. Age, gender, testing site, ethnicity and intracranial volume were entered as covariates.

Results: The right amygdala was significantly larger in unaffected BD offspring compared to BD offspring with psychiatric disorders and HC. Volumes of striatal, hippocampal, cingulate, and temporal regions were comparable across groups.

Discussion: The size of the amygdala may be a marker of disease susceptibility in offspring of BD parents. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine rates of conversion to BD as related to specific pre-morbid brain abnormalities.

Citing Articles

Functional Alterations in Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Their Unaffected First-Degree Relatives: Insight from Genetic, Epidemiological, and Neuroimaging Data.

Zhang H, Chen J, Fang Y Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2023; 19:2797-2806.

PMID: 38111594 PMC: 10726715. DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S427617.

Specificity of associations between parental psychopathology and offspring brain structure.

Mattoni M, Hopman H, DadeMatthews A, Chan S, Olino T Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2023; 334:111684.

PMID: 37499380 PMC: 10530479. DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111684.

Neuroanatomic and Functional Neuroimaging Findings.

Diaz A, Bauer I, Sanches M, Soares J Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2020; 48:173-196.

PMID: 33040316 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2020_174.

Rostral Middle Frontal Volumetric Differences in Bipolar Offspring versus Community Controls Offspring.

Palacio-Ortiz J, Gomez-Valero M, Bustamante-Gomez P, Arroyave-Sierra P, Vargas-Upegui C, Pineda-Zapata J Int J Psychol Res (Medellin). 2020; 12(2):48-58.

PMID: 32612794 PMC: 7318384. DOI: 10.21500/20112084.3971.

Altered directed functional connectivity of the right amygdala in depression: high-density EEG study.

Damborska A, Honzirkova E, Bartecek R, Horinkova J, Fedorova S, Ondrus S Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):4398.

PMID: 32157152 PMC: 7064485. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61264-z.

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