Prolonged functional cerebral asymmetry as a consequence of dysfunctional parvocellular paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus signaling: An integrative model for the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder

Abstract

Approximately 45 million people worldwide are diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). While there are many known risk factors and models of the pathologic processes influencing BD, the exact neurologic underpinnings of BD are unknown. We attempt to integrate the existing literature and create a unifying hypothesis regarding the pathophysiology of BD with the hope that a concrete model may potentially facilitate more specific diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of BD in the future. We hypothesize that dysfunctional signaling from the parvocellular neurons of the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) results in the clinical presentation of BD. Functional damage to this nucleus and its signaling pathways may be mediated by myriad factors (e.g. immune dysregulation and auto-immune processes, polygenetic variation, dysfunctional interhemispheric connections, and impaired or overactivated hypothalamic axes) which could help explain the wide variety of clinical presentations along the BD spectrum. The neurons of the PVN regulate ultradian rhythms, which are observed in cyclic variations in healthy individuals, and mediate changes in functional hemispheric lateralization. Theoretically, dysfunctional PVN signaling results in prolonged functional hemispheric dominance. In this model, prolonged right hemispheric dominance leads to depressive symptoms, whereas left hemispheric dominance correlated to the clinical picture of mania. Subsequently, physiologic processes that increase signaling through the PVN (hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis, hypothalamic- pituitary-gonadal axis, and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis activity, suprachiasmatic nucleus pathways) as well as, neuro-endocrine induced excito-toxicity, auto-immune and inflammatory flairs may induce mood episodes in susceptible individuals. Potentially, ultradian rhythms slowing with age, in combination with changes in hypothalamic axes and maturation of neural circuitry, accounts for BD clinically presenting more frequently in young adulthood than later in life.