Gui-Fang Chen1, Meng-Chai Mao2, Kun Feng1, Jie-Chun Gan1, Xiao-Qian Zhang1, Chen-Yu Shen1, Bo Xu1, Xiao-Min Liu3, Xia-Jin Ren1, Po-Zi Liu4, Ya Wang5. 1. YuQuan Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. 2. Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Engineering Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Intelligent Rehabilitation, Ministry of Education. 3. Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. 4. YuQuan Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: liupozi@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn. 5. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wangyazsu@gmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that BD patients exhibited impairment when performing a verbal fluency task (VFT) and abnormal prefrontal cortex activation during this task. However, no study has specifically examined whether patients with type II BD demonstrate difficulty in performing VFT and impairments in relevant neural correlates or whether these are related to psychotic symptoms, the present study aimed to examine these issues. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with type II BD (21 patients with psychotic symptoms [BDIIp] and 28 patients without psychotic symptoms [BDIIn]) and 45 matched healthy controls (HCs) participated the study and completed the VFTs, while their brain activity was recorded with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). RESULTS: Both BDIIp and BDIIn patients showed poorer performance on VFTs than HCs. In addition, BDII patients showed lower brain activation than HCs in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right frontal pole, these results were mainly driven by BDIIn patients. Moreover, subjective psychotic symptoms were positively significantly correlated with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in BDII patients. CONCLUSIONS: Type II BD patients showed significant impairment when performing VFTs and reduced activation in the prefrontal cortex, and subjective psychotic symptoms were associated with brain activation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in BDII patients.
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that BD patients exhibited impairment when performing a verbal fluency task (VFT) and abnormal prefrontal cortex activation during this task. However, no study has specifically examined whether patients with type II BD demonstrate difficulty in performing VFT and impairments in relevant neural correlates or whether these are related to psychotic symptoms, the present study aimed to examine these issues. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with type II BD (21 patients with psychotic symptoms [BDIIp] and 28 patients without psychotic symptoms [BDIIn]) and 45 matched healthy controls (HCs) participated the study and completed the VFTs, while their brain activity was recorded with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). RESULTS: Both BDIIp and BDIIn patients showed poorer performance on VFTs than HCs. In addition, BDII patients showed lower brain activation than HCs in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right frontal pole, these results were mainly driven by BDIIn patients. Moreover, subjective psychotic symptoms were positively significantly correlated with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in BDII patients. CONCLUSIONS:Type II BDpatients showed significant impairment when performing VFTs and reduced activation in the prefrontal cortex, and subjective psychotic symptoms were associated with brain activation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in BDII patients.