Reduced tract length of the medial forebrain bundle and the anterior thalamic radiation in bipolar disorder with melancholic depression.

Denier, Niklaus; Walther, Sebastian; Schneider, Christoph; Federspiel, Andrea; Wiest, Roland; Bracht, Tobias (2020). Reduced tract length of the medial forebrain bundle and the anterior thalamic radiation in bipolar disorder with melancholic depression. Journal of affective disorders, 274, pp. 8-14. Elsevier 10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.008

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BACKGROUND

The supero-lateral medial forebrain bundle (slMFB) and the anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) play a core role in reward anticipation and motivational processes. In this study, the slMFB and the ATR were investigated in a group of depressed bipolar disorder (BD) and in healthy controls (HC) using tract length as a measure of fibre geometry and fractional anisotropy (FA) as a measure of white matter microstructure. We hypothesized reduced tract length and FA of the slMFB and the ATR in BD. We expect alterations to be driven by the melancholic subtype.

METHODS

Nineteen depressed patients with BD and 19 HC matched for age and gender underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based tractography was used to reconstruct bilateral slMFB and ATR. Mean tract length and FA were computed for the slMFB and the ATR. Mixed-model ANCOVAs and post-hoc ANCOVAs, controlling for age and intracranial volume, were used to compare tract length and FA of bilateral slMFB and ATR between HC and BD and between HC and subgroups with melancholic and non-melancholic symptoms.

RESULTS

In BD we found a significantly shortened tract length of the right slMFB and ATR in BD compared to HC. Subgroup analyses showed that these findings were driven by the melancholic subgroup. Mean-FA did not differ between HC and BD.

LIMITATIONS

Sample size CONCLUSIONS: Tract length of the right slMFB and the right ATR is reduced in BD. Those changes of fibre geometry are driven by the melancholic subtype.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy > Translational Research Center
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine (DRNN) > Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology

UniBE Contributor:

Denier, Niklaus, Walther, Sebastian, Schneider, Christoph (A), Federspiel, Andrea, Wiest, Roland Gerhard Rudi, Bracht, Tobias

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1573-2517

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Martin Zbinden

Date Deposited:

03 Jul 2020 14:54

Last Modified:

29 Mar 2023 23:37

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.008

PubMed ID:

32469836

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Bipolar disorder DTI Depression Reward system Tractography White matter

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.144656

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/144656

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