Peripheral inflammation during abnormal mood states in bipolar I disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder carries a substantive morbidity and mortality burden, particularly related to cardiovascular disease. Abnormalities in peripheral inflammatory markers, which have been commonly reported in case-control studies, potentially link these co-morbidities. However, it is not clear whether inflammatory markers change episodically in response to mood states or are indicative of chronic pro-inflammatory activity, regardless of mood, in bipolar disorder.

T1ρ imaging in premanifest Huntington disease reveals changes associated with disease progression.

Background: Imaging biomarkers sensitive to Huntington's disease (HD) during the premanifest phase preceding motor diagnosis may accelerate identification and evaluation of potential therapies. For this purpose, quantitative MRI sensitive to tissue microstructure and metabolism may hold great potential. We investigated the potential value of T1ρ relaxation to detect pathological changes in premanifest HD (preHD) relative to other quantitative relaxation parameters.

Brain abnormalities in bipolar disorder detected by quantitative T1ρ mapping.

Abnormal metabolism has been reported in bipolar disorder, however, these studies have been limited to specific regions of the brain. To investigate whole-brain changes potentially associated with these processes, we applied a magnetic resonance imaging technique novel to psychiatric research, quantitative mapping of T1 relaxation in the rotating frame (T1ρ). This method is sensitive to proton chemical exchange, which is affected by pH, metabolite concentrations and cellular density with high spatial resolution relative to alternative techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy and positron emission tomography.