Project Summary

Hilary P. Blumberg, M.D., (Independent Investigator 2006) of Yale University, notes that current evidence suggests there are deficits in the regulation of emotional processing by an area of the brain called the ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) in adults with BD. Dr. Blumberg will study unaffected family members of persons with bipolar disorder (BD) to identify the brain features that may create vulnerability to the development of BD, as well as those features that may provide resiliency to the development of the disorder, as new preliminary findings suggest that VPFC deficits may represent an inherited vulnerability to BD, as they are also present in unaffected family members of persons with BD. The preliminary data also suggest that unaffected family members have greater engagement of dorsal frontal regions during emotional processing than individuals with BD which suggests more dorsal frontal regions might provide the capacity to compensate for VPFC deficits and help to adaptively regulate emotional responses to prevent the full expression of BD. It also suggests the importance of the relationship between VPFC activity and activity in other components of emotional neural circuitry in the expression of the illness. Our preliminary data provide evidence for an association between specific genetic variations and the functional relationships between VPFC and other components of emotional neural circuitry such as the amygdala. This project builds on her previous findings funded by NARSAD and for which she also received NIH-funding. She plans to study 40 unaffected first-degree relatives of persons with BD with comprehensive clinical and neurobehavioral assessment and functional magnetic resonance scanning during processing of emotional faces. This information could be critical to understanding the pathophysiology of BD, to the development of methods to detect individuals at risk for BD and to the ability to prevent and better treat the disorder.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar\Bipolar I

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