Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jun;169(6):633-41.
doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.11081244.

A developmental study of the neural circuitry mediating motor inhibition in bipolar disorder

Judah D Weathers  1 , Argyris Stringaris, Christen M Deveney, Melissa A Brotman, Carlos A Zarate Jr, Megan E Connolly, Stephen J Fromm, Stephanie B LeBourdais, Daniel S Pine, Ellen Leibenluft
Affiliations

A developmental study of the neural circuitry mediating motor inhibition in bipolar disorder

Judah D Weathers et al. Am J Psychiatry. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Despite increased interest in the developmental trajectory of the pathophysiology mediating bipolar disorder, few studies have compared adults and youths with bipolar disorder. Deficits in motor inhibition are thought to play an important role in the pathophysiology of the illness across the age spectrum. The authors compared the neural circuitry mediating this process in bipolar youths relative to bipolar adults and in healthy volunteers.

Method: Participants were pediatric (N=16) and adult (N=23) patients with bipolar disorder and healthy child (N=21) and adult (N=29) volunteers. Functional MRI (fMRI) data were acquired while participants performed the stop-signal task.

Results: During failed inhibition, an age group-by-diagnosis interaction manifested in the anterior cingulate cortex, with bipolar youths exhibiting hypoactivation relative to both healthy youths and bipolar adults, and bipolar adults exhibiting hyperactivation relative to healthy adults. During successful inhibition, a main effect of diagnosis emerged in the right nucleus accumbens and the left ventral prefrontal cortex, with bipolar patients in both age groups showing less activation than healthy subjects.

Conclusions: Anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction during failed motor inhibition was observed in both bipolar youths and adults, although the nature of this dysfunction differed between the two groups. Adults and youths with bipolar disorder exhibited similar deficits in activation of the nucleus accumbens and the ventral prefrontal cortex during successful inhibition. Therefore, while subcortical and ventral prefrontal cortex hypoactivation was present in bipolar patients across the lifespan, anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction varied developmentally, with reduced activation in youths and increased activation in adults during failed inhibition. Longitudinal fMRI studies of the developmental trajectory of the neural circuitry mediating motor inhibition in bipolar disorder are warranted.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures

The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Mean activation in left and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during stop-incorrect vs. go contrast
(A) Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activation in stop-incorrect vs. go contrast. (B) Mean activation in right ACC (MNI coordinates x = 4, y = 42, z = 6).(C) Mean activation in left ACC (MNI coordinates x = 4, y = 42, z = 6). HV = healthy volunteers; BD = bipolar disorder
Figure 2
Figure 2. Mean activation in left ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) and right nucleus accumbens (NAc) during stop-correct vs. go contrast
(A) Ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) activation in stop-correct vs. go contrast. (B) Mean activation in left VPFC (MNI coordinates x = −26, y = 26, z = 8). (C) Mean activation in right NAc (MNI coordinates x = 16, y = 4, z = −6). HV= healthy volunteers; BD= bipolar disorder
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. NIMH Strategic Plan. National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services; Bethesda, MD: 2010.
    1. Duffy A. The early course of bipolar disorder in youth at familial risk. J Cad Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry [Journal Article] 2009 Jul;18(3):200–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Logan GD, Schachar RJ, Tannock R. Impulsivity and Inhibitory Control. Psychological Science. 1997;8(1):60–4.
    1. Swann AC, Pazzaglia P, Nicholls A, Dougherty DM, Moeller FG. Impulsivity and phase of illness in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2003;73(1–2):105–11. - PubMed
    1. McClure E, Treland J, Snow J, Schmajuk M, Dickstein D, Towbin K, et al. Deficits in social cognition and response flexibility in pediatric bipolar disorder. The American journal of psychiatry. 162(9):1644–51. - PubMed

Publication types