Research progress of brain imaging in patients with bipolar disorder with anxiety symptom

Abstract

Bipolar disorder （BD） is a complex mental illness characterized by mood fluctuations， excitability and impaired functioning. Anxiety in BD patients frequently leads to increased clinical symptoms， worse social functioning， and a higher risk of suicide. Current research on BD with anxiety symptom primarily examined clinical characteristics， prevalence and treatment， with limited focus and inconsistent findings on its neuro-biogenetic mechanisms. The findings in this area were also inconsistent. Magnetic resonance imaging （MRI）， known for its non-invasive nature and high resolution， is extensively utilized in investigating disease mechanisms. Consequently， this paper gave a comprehensive review on the progress in brain imaging on BD patients with anxiety symptom， seeking to discern stable changes in brain structure and function， thereby enrich our understanding of the neurobiological etiology of this condition and offer valuable insights for clinical diagnosis and treatment strategies making. This paper covered 14 original studies and synthesized their findings on brain structure and function. Conclusively， the changes of brain functional activities in BD patients with anxiety symptom mainly involve the prefrontal lobe， posterior cingulate cortex， temporal lobe and angular gyrus， while the changes of brain structure mainly involve the left hippocampus and middle frontal gyrus， but the consistency of the research results needs to be enhanced. The research in this field is not sufficient, and more homogeneous clinical samples and larger longitudinal studies are needed to verify and supplement the above results. ［Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China （number， 82071524）］

Keywords

• bipolar disorder
• anxiety
• magnetic resonance imaging