Aberrant Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Default Mode Network in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Patients with and without Psychotic Symptoms
1School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
2Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
3Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, China
4Department of Psychiatry, Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
5Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
6Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, China
7Department of Radiology, Taishan Medical University, Taian, China
Abstract
Mood disorders/psychosis have been associated with dysfunctions in the default mode network (DMN). However, the relative contributions of DMN regions to state and trait disturbances in pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible mechanisms of PBD through brain imaging and explore the influence of psychotic symptoms on functional alterations in PBD patients. Twenty-nine psychotic and 26 non-psychotic PBD patients, as well as 19 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent a resting-state functional MRI scan and the data were analyzed by independent component analysis. The DMN component from the fMRI data was extracted for each participant. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis was performed between aberrant connectivity and clinical measurements. The results demonstrated that psychotic PBD was characterized by aberrant DMN connectivity in the anterior cingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral caudate nucleus, bilateral angular gyri, and left middle temporal gyrus, while non-psychotic PBD was not, suggesting further impairment with the development of psychosis. In summary, we demonstrated unique impairment in DMN functional connectivity in the psychotic PBD group. These specific neuroanatomical abnormalities may shed light on the underlying pathophysiology and presentation of PBD.
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