Altered cerebellar gray matter and cerebellar-cortex resting-state functional connectivity in patients with bipolar disorder

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 302; pp. 50 - 57
• Main Authors: Cui, Liqian, Li, Hao, Li, Jin Biao, Zeng, Huixing, Zhang, Yizhi, Deng, Wenhao, Zhou, Wenjin, Cao, Liping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2022
• Subjects: Bipolar Disorder - pathology; Bipolar Disorder - physiopathology; Bipolar disorder I; Cerebellar Cortex - pathology; Cerebellar Cortex - physiopathology; Cerebellum; Functional connectivity; Gray Matter - pathology; Gray Matter - physiopathology; Gray matter volume; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Cerebellum; Functional connectivity; Bipolar disorder I; Gray matter volume; gray matter volume; functional connectivity; bipolar disorder I; cerebellum
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.01.073

•First study to investigate changes in cerebellar GMV and its functional connectivity exclusively in BP-I patients•Using the SUIT toolbox to isolate the cerebellum and identify the precise cerebellar regions involved in BP-I.•Found the decreased cerebellar gray matter and disrupted cerebellar-cortex resting-state functional connectivity in BP-I patients Bipolar disorder (BP) is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme fluctuations in mood. Recent studies have indicated the involvement of cerebellum in the pathogenesis of BP. However, no study has focused on the precise role of cerebellum exclusively in patients with bipolar I disorder (BP-I). Forty-five patients with BP-I and 40 healthy controls were recruited. All subjects underwent clinical evaluation and Magnetic Resonance diffusion Tension Imaging scans. For structural images, we used a spatially unbiased infratentorial template toolbox to isolate the cerebellum and then preformed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses to assess the difference in cerebellar gray matter volume (GMV) between the two groups. For the functional images, we chose the clusters that survived from VBM analysis as seeds and performed functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Between-group differences were assessed using the independent Students t test or the nonparametric Mann‐Whitney U Test. For multiple comparisons, the results were further corrected with Gaussian random field (GRF) approach (voxel-level P < 0.001, cluster-level P < 0.05). Compared with healthy controls, BP-I patients showed significantly decreased GMV in left lobule V and left lobule VI (P < 0.05, GRF corrected). The FC of cerebellum with bilateral superior temporal gyrus, bilateral insula, bilateral rolandic operculum, right putamen, and left precentral gyrus was disrupted in BP-I patients (P < 0.05, GRF corrected). BP-I patients showed decreased cerebellar GMV and disrupted cerebellar-cortex resting-state FC. This suggests that cerebellar abnormalities may play an important role in the pathogenesis of BP-I.