Neuroplasticity Improves Bipolar Disorder: A Review

Abstract

Bipolar disorder (BD) is known for impairments in neurotrophic and neuroprotective processes, which translate into emotional and cognitive deficits affecting various brain regions. Using its neuroplastic properties, lithium, thus far, is the mood stabilizer used to amend the pathophysiological imbalance in BD. Neuroplasticity has gained massive popularity in the research department in the past decade, yet it lacks direct effort in changing the protocol through which physicians treat BD. Physical activity alongside cognitive therapy is theorized to produce long-term changes in the executive control network due to the assimilation of new neurons, amendment of emotional lability through hippocampal neurogenesis, and strengthening the stability of frontosubcortical and prefrontolimbic brain regions via neurogenesis. This review aims to provide an incentive for utilizing neuroplastic mechanisms concerning impairments dispensed by BD.

Keywords: brain and bipolar disorder; frontal lobe in bipolar; neuroimaging; neuroplasticity; neuroplasticity in bipolar; parietal lobe in bipolar; synaptic plasticity.

Figure 1. Regions affected by bipolar disorder

The figure illustrates the regions affected in BD and their normal functions. An inability of the same areas to connect and collaborate results in the impairment of functions, signified by the broken arrows, mentioned in the model above is expressed in BD.

Figure 2. Effects of neuroplasticity in bipolar disorder

The figure demonstrates the various mechanisms through which neuroplasticity can be induced, which can later enhance the function and connectivity of the regions affected in a BD brain. BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; NT, neurotransmitter