Decreased diffusivity along the perivascular spaces in bipolar disorder: an MRI-based cross-sectional and Mendelian randomization study.

ABSTRACT: The pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) remains unclear. We investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging along perivascular spaces (DTI-ALPS), a putative MRI marker of glymphatic function, is altered in BD and whether this index relates to structural brain changes and clinical status. We recruited 108 patients with first-diagnosed and drug-naïve BD and 54 healthy controls. Participants underwent comprehensive clinical assessments (depression and mania ratings, functional disability, and neurocognition) and multimodal MRI (DTI-ALPS, free water [FW, a putative biomarker of neuroinflammation], FW-corrected mean diffusivity [MD-t], FW-corrected fractional anisotropy [FA-t], cortical thickness). We additionally assessed the causal association between DTI-ALPS and BD susceptibility using b

SUBMITTER: Chen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12789538 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature