Limbic network hyperconnectivity, fasting appetite hormone dysregulation and impaired go/no-go performance in youths with bipolar disorder
Hsing-Jung Chen, Li-Kai Cheng, Ya-Mei Bai, Ju-Wei Hsu, Li-Chi Chen, Pei-Chi Tu, Shih-Jen Tsai, Mu-Hong ChenBackground
Bipolar disorder in youths is associated with metabolic dysregulation, impaired inhibitory control and limbic network connectivity changes.
Aims
To investigate whether limbic network connectivity is associated with appetite hormones and inhibitory control in youths with bipolar disorder.
Method
The current study included 68 youths with bipolar disorder and 57 age- and gender-matched controls. They completed clinical assessments, the go/no-go (GNG) task, fasting appetite hormone (leptin, adiponectin, insulin and ghrelin) tests and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI functional connectivity was analysed across 17 limbic ROIs. Cluster-level inferences were derived by using threshold-free cluster enhancement with family-wise error correction ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, associations with appetite hormones and GNG task parameters were investigated.
Results
Compared with the control individuals, youths with bipolar disorder exhibited elevated leptin ( p = 0.005) and insulin levels ( p < 0.001), poorer performance on the GNG task and hyperconnectivity within the limbic network, identifying a significant cluster comprising the right anterior parahippocampal gyrus (aPHG)–right thalamus and right aPHG–hypothalamus edges (cluster-level family-wise error-corrected p = 0.045). No significant correlations were observed between limbic hyperconnectivity, appetite hormone levels and GNG task performance.
Conclusions
Current cross-sectional cohort indicates that youths with bipolar disorder exhibit concurrent alterations in appetite hormones, inhibitory control and limbic connectivity. These findings provide a characterisation of youth bipolar disorder across multiple indices, although longitudinal studies are necessary to understand how these features relate to long-term clinical trajectories.