Project Summary

Lori Altshuler, M.D. (Distinguished Investigator 2006) of the Neuropsychiatric Institute & Hospital (NPIH) of the University of California, Los Angeles, will conduct a novel study on patients with bipolar disorder (BD). She will explore the relationship between the functional deficits seen on an MRI and structural data from the same subject. Dr. Altshuler will use new techniques recently developed at UCLA to measure brain gray matter and white matter for coregistration with fMRI data from bipolar patients and matched control subjects. Though BD is one of the top 10 causes of disabilities in the world, what happens in the brain is still not clearly understood. Based on data from prior studies, Dr. Altshuler believes that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has a functional deficit during mania associated with BD. This deficit remains when the bipolar subject is in a nondepressed, nonmanic state, leading Dr. Altshuler to conclude that this may be a possible endophenotype (or symptom that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but can be measured in a lab) for the disease. Using novel computational anatomy techniques, Dr. Altshuler will attempt to evaluate the cause of this altered function, assess function-structure relationships, and correlate white-matter volume with fMRI activation. She will also examine whether white-matter deficits are present in bipolar disorder and assess whether these deficits are associated with concurrent deficits in gray matter, or occur in the presence of normal gray-matter volume. Finally, she will explore linking patterns of structural differences with functional deficits mapped in the same subjects. This is a novel study on BD that may provide information on the functional neuroanatomy of BD, as well as generate valuable pilot data to submit for funding from the NIH. Findings could lead to future investigations of specific genes that could influence the abnormal development of gray-vs. white-matter volume in specific brain regions, and could provide a target for treatment development.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar

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