Abstract
Objectives: To investigate changes in functional connectivity between the vermis and cerebral regions in the resting state among subjects with bipolar disorder (BD).Methods: Thirty participants with BD and 28 healthy controls (HC) underwent the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the anterior and posterior vermis was examined. For each participant, rsFC maps of the anterior and posterior vermis were computed and compared across the two groups.Results: rsFC between the whole vermis and ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) was significantly lower in the BD groups compared to the HC group, and rsFC between the anterior vermis and the middle cingulate cortex was likewise significantly decreased in the BD group.Limitations: 83.3% of the BD participants were taking medication at the time of the study. Our findings may in part be attributed to treatment differences because we did not examine the effects of medication on rsFC. Further, the mixed BD subtypes in our current study may have confounding effects influencing the results.Conclusions: These rsFC differences of vermis-VPFC between groups may contribute to the BD mood regulation.
Highlights
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric illness characterized by recurrent disturbances in sleep, behavior, perception, cognition, and mood regulation (Goodwin and Geddes, 2007)
Psychological examinations of all healthy control (HC) recruited from the local community were normal, these examinations confirmed no personal histories of mental illness, mood, psychotic, anxiety, or substance misuse disorders in their first-degree family members
Thirty BD patients and 28 HCs were included in the study population
Summary
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric illness characterized by recurrent disturbances in sleep, behavior, perception, cognition, and mood regulation (Goodwin and Geddes, 2007). Some studies found that multi-episode BD patients have smaller vermal V2 and V3 areas via structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compared to first-episode patients (DelBello et al, 1999; Mills et al, 2005). These data suggested that the vermis might be subject to atrophy during BD spells. Mood disorders such as BD have been linked to impairments in anterior limbic brain structures, wherein the cerebellum may modulate mood (Strakowski et al, 2002)
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