Background: Patients with bipolar depression are characterized by dysregulation across the full spectrum of mood, differentiating them from patients with unipolar depression. The ability to switch neural resources among the default mode network, salience network, and executive control network (ECN) has been proposed as a key mechanism for adaptive mood regulation. The anterior insula is implicated in the modulation of functional network switching. Differential connectivity between anterior insula and functional networks may provide insights into pathophysiological differences between bipolar and unipolar mood disorders, with implications for diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 98 subjects (35 unipolar, 24 bipolar, and 39 healthy control subjects). Pearson correlations were computed between bilateral insula seed regions and a priori defined target regions from the default mode network, salience network, and ECN. After r-to-z transformation, a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to identify significant differences in connectivity between groups. Post hoc pairwise comparisons were conducted and Bonferroni corrections were applied. Receiver-operating characteristics were computed to assess diagnostic sensitivity.

Results: Patients with bipolar depression evidenced significantly altered right anterior insula functional connectivity with the inferior parietal lobule of the ECN relative to patients with unipolar depression and control subjects. Right anterior insula-inferior parietal lobule connectivity significantly discriminated patients with bipolar depression.

Conclusions: Impaired functional connectivity between the anterior insula and the inferior parietal lobule of the ECN distinguishes patients with bipolar depression from those with unipolar depression and healthy control subjects. This finding highlights a pathophysiological mechanism with potential as a therapeutic target and a clinical biomarker for bipolar disorder, exhibiting reasonable sensitivity and specificity.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6467478PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.01.013DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

anterior insula
20
bipolar depression
16
unipolar depression
16
control subjects
16
patients bipolar
16
functional connectivity
12
connectivity anterior
12
healthy control
12
parietal lobule
12
executive control
8

Similar Publications

Alterations in brain activity and functional connectivity originating residual inhibition of tinnitus induced by tailor-made notched music training.

Hear Res

October 2024

School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; School of Medicine, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:

Tinnitus arises from the intricate interplay of multiple, parallel but overlapping networks, involving neuroplastic changes in both auditory and non-auditory activity. Tailor-made notched music training (TMNMT) has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for tinnitus. Residual inhibition (RI) represents one of the rare interventions capable of temporarily alleviating tinnitus, offering a valuable tool that can be applied to tinnitus research to explore underlying tinnitus mechanisms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The striatum is divided into two interdigitated tissue compartments, the striosome and matrix. These compartments exhibit distinct anatomical, neurochemical, and pharmacological characteristics and have separable roles in motor and mood functions. Little is known about the functions of these compartments in humans.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebral perfusion alterations in healthy young adults due to two genetic risk factors of Alzheimer's disease: APOE and MAPT.

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab

January 2025

Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, Division of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Heath, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.

Functional brain changes such as altered cerebral blood flow occur long before the onset of clinical symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. While cerebral hypoperfusion occurs in established AD, middle-aged carriers of genetic risk factors for AD, including APOE ε4, display regional hyperperfusion due to hypothesised pleiotropic or compensatory effects, representing a possible early biomarker of AD and facilitating earlier AD diagnosis. However, it is not clear whether hyperperfusion already exists even earlier in life.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Observational studies suggest that hypertension affects brain cortical structure. However, the potential causal association has yet to be entirely determined. Thus, we aim to assess the causality between hypertension and abnormal cortical structure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The two sides of Phobos: Gray and white matter abnormalities in phobic individuals.

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

January 2025

Departamento de Psicología ClínicaPsicobiología y MetodologíaFacultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, 38200, Tenerife, Spain.

Small animal phobia (SAP) is a subtype of specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear of small animals, which has been underexplored in the neuroscientific literature. Previous studies often faced limitations, such as small sample sizes, focusing on only one neuroimaging modality, and reliance on univariate analyses, which produced inconsistent findings. This study was designed to overcome these issues by using for the first time advanced multivariate machine-learning techniques to identify the neural mechanisms underlying SAP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!