Structural Brain Network Alterations in Relation to Treatment and Illness Severity in Bipolar Disorder

Background

Large-scale T1-weighted MRI studies have established grey-matter abnormalities in bipolar disorder (BD), with our group contributing to consensus findings. However, structural connectivity, particularly within emotion- and reward-related circuits, remains poorly understood. Diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) enables investigation of white-matter pathways, yet prior work is constrained by small samples, methodological heterogeneity, and unclear medication effects. We conducted the largest dMRI network analysis in BD, relating symptom burden and polypharmacy to tractography-derived connectivity and graph-theoretic metrics.

Methods

Cross-sectional structural and diffusion MRI scans from 449 individuals with BD (35.7±12.6 years) and 510 controls (33.3±12.6 years), aged 18–65, were analyzed across 16 ENIGMA-BD sites. Standardized segmentation/parcellation and constrained spherical deconvolution tractography generated individual structural connectivity matrices. Graph-theoretic metrics of global and subnetwork organization were related to symptom severity and medications. Results BD showed widespread network alterations (lower density and efficiency, longer path length, and higher betweenness centrality), altered microstructural organization in a limbic–basal ganglia circuit, and abnormal streamline counts in a default-mode/salience/fronto-limbic–basal ganglia network. Longer illness duration, later onset, and psychosis history were associated with greater abnormalities in network architecture, whereas more manic episodes were associated with greater fronto-limbic connectivity. Antidepressant (particularly SSRI), anticonvulsant, and antipsychotic use related to poorer global and fronto-limbic connectivity; no clear lithium effects emerged.

Conclusions

As the largest structural connectivity study in BD, we reveal widespread disruption in reward and emotion-regulation networks influenced by illness severity and medication use. Results show that multisite harmonization is feasible and highlight ENIGMA-BD as a scalable framework for identifying reproducible neurobiological markers.