Neurodevelopmental pathways in bipolar disorder

Stefan Kloiber; Joshua D Rosenblat; Muhammad I Husain; Abigail Ortiz; Michael Berk; Joao Quevedo; Eduard Vieta; Michael Maes; Boris Birmaher; Jair C Soares; Andre F Carvalho

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.005

Neurodevelopmental pathways in bipolar disorder

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 May:112:213-226. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.005. Epub 2020 Feb 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ School of Medicine, IMPACT SRC, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; Centre for Youth Mental Health and Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia; Barwon Health, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Australia; Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
⁴ Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA; Translational Psychiatry Laboratory, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC), Criciúma, SC, Brazil; Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.
⁵ Bipolar Disorders and Depressive Unit, Hospital Clinic, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
⁸ Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: andre.carvalho@camh.ca.

PMID: 32035092
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.005

Abstract

Aberrations in neurodevelopmental trajectories have been implicated in the neurobiology of several mental disorders and evidence indicates a pathophysiological and genetic overlap of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD). In this narrative review, we summarize findings related to developmental and perinatal factors as well as epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological, brain imaging, postmortem brain and genomic studies that provide evidence for a putative neurodevelopmental pathogenesis and etiology of BD. Overall, aberrations in neurodevelopmental pathways have been more consistently implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia compared to BD. Nevertheless, an accumulating body of evidence indicates that dysfunctional neurodevelopmental pathways may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology of at least a subset of individuals with BD particularly those with an early age of illness onset and those exhibiting psychotic symptoms. A heuristic neurodevelopmental model for the pathophysiology of BD based on the findings of this review is proposed. Furthermore, we critically discuss clinical and research implications of this model. Finally, further research directions for this emerging field are provided.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder; Cognition; Genomics; Neurobiology; Neurodevelopment; Neuroimaging; Psychiatry; Schizophrenia.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Bipolar Disorder* / etiology
Bipolar Disorder* / genetics
Endophenotypes*
Female
Human Development*
Humans
Neurodevelopmental Disorders* / etiology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders* / genetics
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects*
Schizophrenia* / etiology
Schizophrenia* / genetics