Investigation of structure-function correlation among the young offspring of patients with bipolar disorder

Abstract

Bipolar disorder (BD) has been associated with impaired executive functioning and integrity of fronto-limbic white matter tracts. The evaluation of these factors in young offspring of patients with BD (BDoff) as a high-risk group offers an opportunity to investigate factors that could predict vulnerability to the disorder. This study aims to examine the correlation between neurocognition and neuroimaging findings to evaluate the potential for these findings as biomarkers for the early recognition of BD. We enrolled BDoff (n = 16) who were aged between 12 and 18. Participants were assessed using clinical and neurocognitive tests. In addition, structural brain magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging data were obtained. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and cingulum were extracted and correlations with neuropsychological data were analyzed. FA values in the SLF were negatively correlated with Stroop interference, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the Trail Making Test (B-A) scores. MD values in the cingulum were inversely correlated with the Child and Youth Resilience Measure and positively correlated with higher scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-Attentional. These findings provide a link between features of the brain and cognitive dysfunction in BDoff.