Inal-Emiroglu F Neslihan, Karabay Nuri, Resmi Halil, Guleryuz Handan, Baykara Burak, Alsen Sevay, Senturk-Pilan Birsen, Akay Aynur, Kose Samet
Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Izmir, Turkey.
Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, Radiology Department, Izmir, Turkey.
J Affect Disord. 2015 Aug 15;182:50-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.04.016. Epub 2015 Apr 18.
The amygdala is repeatedly implicated as a critical component of the neurocircuitry regulating emotional valence. Studies have frequently reported reduced amygdala volumes in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD). Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) play critical roles in growth, differentiation, maintenance, and synaptic plasticity of neuronal systems in adolescent brain development. The aim of the present study was to assess amygdala volumesand its correlation with serum levels of NGF and BDNF in euthymic adolescents with BD and healthy controls.
Using structural MRI, we compared the amygdala volumes of 30 euthymic subjects with BD with 23 healthy control subjects aged between 13 and 19 years during a naturalistic clinical follow-up. The boundaries of the amygdala were outlined manually. Serum BDNF and NGF levels were measured using sandwich-ELISA and compared between the study groups.
The right or left amygdala volume did not differ between the study groups.The right and left amygdala volumes were highly correlated with levels of BDNF in the combined BD group and the valproate-treated group.Both R and L amygdala volumes were correlated with BDNF levels in healthy controls. The left amygdala volumes were correlated with BDNF levels in the lithium-treated group.
This cross-sectional study cannot inform longitudinal changes in brain structure. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to improve reliability.
The correlations between amygdala volumes and BDNF levels might be an early neuromarker for diagnosis and/or treatment response in adolescents with BD.
杏仁核反复被认为是调节情绪效价的神经回路的关键组成部分。研究经常报道双相情感障碍（BD）儿童和青少年的杏仁核体积减小。脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）和神经生长因子（NGF）在青少年大脑发育过程中神经元系统的生长、分化、维持和突触可塑性方面发挥着关键作用。本研究的目的是评估BD缓解期青少年和健康对照者的杏仁核体积及其与血清NGF和BDNF水平的相关性。
在自然临床随访期间，我们使用结构磁共振成像（MRI）比较了30名BD缓解期受试者和23名年龄在13至19岁之间的健康对照者的杏仁核体积。杏仁核的边界通过手动勾勒。使用夹心酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）测量血清BDNF和NGF水平，并在研究组之间进行比较。
研究组之间右侧或左侧杏仁核体积没有差异。在BD合并组和丙戊酸盐治疗组中，右侧和左侧杏仁核体积与BDNF水平高度相关。在健康对照者中，右侧和左侧杏仁核体积均与BDNF水平相关。在锂盐治疗组中，左侧杏仁核体积与BDNF水平相关。
这项横断面研究无法说明脑结构的纵向变化。需要进一步进行更大样本量的研究以提高可靠性。
杏仁核体积与BDNF水平之间的相关性可能是BD青少年诊断和/或治疗反应的早期神经标志物。
