Frontolimbic brain volume abnormalities in bipolar disorder with suicide attempts

Mbemba Jabbi; Wade Weber; Jeffrey Welge; Fabiano Nery; Maxwell Tallman; Austin Gable; David E Fleck; Elizabeth T C Lippard; Melissa DelBello; Caleb Adler; Stephen M Strakowski

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113516

Frontolimbic brain volume abnormalities in bipolar disorder with suicide attempts

Psychiatry Res. 2020 Dec:294:113516. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113516. Epub 2020 Oct 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; The Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; Institute of Neuroscience, the University of Texas at Austin; Department of Psychology, the University of Texas at Austin. Electronic address: mbemba.jabbi@austin.utexas.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; The Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; The Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; Institute of Neuroscience, the University of Texas at Austin; Department of Psychology, the University of Texas at Austin.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; The Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin; Department of Psychology, the University of Texas at Austin. Electronic address: steve.strakowski@austin.utexas.edu.

PMID: 33160217
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113516

Abstract

Over 2.3 million people in the United States live with bipolar disorder. Sixty percent of those with a bipolar disorder diagnosis attempt suicide at least once in their lifetime and up to 19% die by suicide. However, the neurobiology of suicide attempts in bipolar disorder remains unclear. We studied the gray matter volume (GMV) of 81 participants with a bipolar-I diagnosis (age-range: 14-34 years old) and 40 healthy participants (age-range 14.7-32 years old) to compare their neuroanatomy and histories of suicide attempt. In the bipolar group, 42 were manic with ages ranging from 14-30.6 years, and 39 were depressed with ages ranging from 14-34.3 years). Twenty three bipolar participants had a suicide attempt history, and 58 had no suicide attempt history. All participants completed behavioral/diagnostic assessments and MRI. We focused on a predefined frontolimbic circuitry in bipolar disorder versus controls to first identify diagnostic GMV correlates and to specifically identify GMV correlates for suicide attempt history. We found reduced GMV in bipolar diagnosis versus controls in the subgenual cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Our observed regional GMV reductions were associated with histories of suicide attempts and measures of individual variations in current suicidal ideation at the time of scanning.

Keywords: Behavior; Bipolar I Disorder; Brain; Gray Matter Volume; Mood Status; Suicide Attempt.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Bipolar Disorder / diagnostic imaging*
Bipolar Disorder / psychology*
Cohort Studies
Female
Gray Matter / diagnostic imaging*
Humans
Limbic Lobe / diagnostic imaging*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Prefrontal Cortex / diagnostic imaging*
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide, Attempted / psychology*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

R01 MH080973/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States