AUTHOR=Zhu Wenjing , Tang Wenxin , Liang Yan , Jiang Xiaoying , Li Yi , Chen Zhiyu , Zhu Cheng 

TITLE=Aberrant Functional Connectivity of Sensorimotor Network and Its Relationship With Executive Dysfunction in Bipolar Disorder Type I

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.823550

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2021.823550

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Background: The key pathophysiological mechanism of executive dysfunction in patients with bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) is still unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated that it may be related to disbalance of the sensory motor network (SMN). 
Objective: This study was designed to explore the aberrant functional connectivity (FC) of SMN in BD-I patients, and its potential associations with executive dysfunction.
Methods: 18 BD-I patients and 20 health controls (HC) underwent resting-state fMRI scans. The intra- and internetwork functional connectivity of SMN were extracted by independent component analysis (ICA). Clinical symptoms were assessed by the Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Rating Scale (BRMS) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Executive function was measured by Digit span tasks and Verbal Fluency Test. Finally, linear regression and correlation analyses were applied to measure the potential associations between clinical symptoms, intra- and internetwork functional connectivity, and executive function performance. 
Results: (1) Patients with BD-I showed increased connectivity in the right paracentral lobule and the right postcentral gyrus within the SMN, and the increased connectivity value was positively correlated with BRMS score (P<0.05), but negatively correlated with Digit span forward scores (P<0.05); (2) Compared with HC, the connectivity value increased between SMN and dorsal attention network (DAN) (P<0.01), the default network (DMN) and DAN (P<0.05), but decreased between DAN and auditory network (AN) (P<0.05), SMN and DMN (P<0.01) in patients with BD-I; (3) Digit span forward scores and education of all participants were negatively correlated with FC between SMN and DAN. Age of all subjects was positively correlated with FC between SMN and DMN. 
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the sensorimotor network of BD-I has abnormal functional connections within and between networks, and the abnormal FC value correlated with clinical symptoms and executive function, which provide new information for exploring the neural physiopathology of executive dysfunction in BD-I patients.