Bipolar Disorder: Brain GABA Levels in Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study

Contact name: Candice Chow

Phone: (617)-726-6944

Fax: (627)-643-3080

Email: cwchow@partners.org

Disorder: Bipolar Disorder

Geographic location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114

Other keywords:

Participant compensation: Subjects will be paid $100 for each scan to compensate them for their time.

Time commitment required: 1 hour for an initial screening visit with the psychiatrist and a maximum of 1.5 hours for the MRI and MRS procedures

Drug trial: Yes

Recruitment end date (approximate): 08/01/2006

Study criteria (i.e., age or gender requirements):
Subjects will be male or female outpatients, ages 18-75, with a primary psychiatric diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. Healthy controls will likewise be ages 18-75 and will not meet criteria for any DSM IV Axis I disorder. All subjects will be right-handed.

Exclusion criteria:
This study excludes:
-Anyone who is not between the ages of 18-65
-Anyone who is over 250 pounds
-Anyone who has taken antibiotics in the past four weeks.
-Anyone who is currently taking:
Antihypertensive
Gingko Biloba
Sedatives
St. John’s wort
-Anyone with systematic or chronic medical illness.
-Anyone with active medical or neurological illness.
-Anyone with brain or cardiac surgery.
-Anyone who has lost consciousness > 30 minutes.
-Anyone with a pacemaker and arrhythmia.
-Anyone who is uncomfortable in a confined space.
-Anyone who has metal implants.
-Woman of childbearing potential not using acceptable means of birth control (ie, IUD, oral contraceptives, barrier devices, condoms or foam)
-Patients on GABAergic agents including benzodiazepines, tiagabine or valproate.
-Patients with a history of alcohol or substance abuse or dependence within the last six months or a positive toxicology screen consistent with abuse at baseline
-Patients with significant or unstable neurological or medical illness or clinically significant head trauma.

Brief description of study:
The purpose of the study is to research how GABA, an important chemical in the brain, is altered in bipolar disorder. GABA may play an important role in bipolar disorder, and studying brain GABA levels may help us understand more about the neurochemistry of bipolar disorder. The study involves one visit to the McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center that will take approximately 2.5 hours, a psychiatric evaluation and a brain imaging procedure. Both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) use magnetic fields and radio waves to take several pictures of the human brain. MRI and MRS are both non-invasive and have no known harmful effects. The study will be conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Brain Imaging Center at McLean Hospital.

Additional information: