Neuroanatomical alterations in brain disorder: A magnetic resonance imaging analysis

Halima Bello Kawuwa 1, *, Charles Okanda Nyatega 2, 4, Ayesha Younis 3 and Mohammed Jajere Adamu 3, 5 

1 Department of Biomedical Engineering and Scientific Instruments, School of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
2 Department of Information and Communication Engineering, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
3 Department of Electronic Science and Technology, School of Microelectronics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
4 Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Mbeya University of Science and   Technology, Mbeya, Tanzania.
5 Department of Computer Science, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria.
 
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2024, 12(02), 492-507.
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2024.12.1.0818
Publication history: 
Received on 02 April 2024; revised on 08 May 2024; accepted on 10 May 2024
 
Abstract: 
Background: Bipolar disorder is a serious mental disorder caused by strong mood fluctuations, affecting 2% of the world's population. People with bipolar disorder experience both manic and depressive episodes, which can lead to suicidal thoughts and changes in appetite, activity, and focus. There are different subtypes of bipolar disorder, with cyclothymic disorder being the milder of the two. Bipolar I is characterized by manic periods, while bipolar II is marked by hypomanic and significant depressive episodes. Bipolar disorder is a biological, genetic, and environmental condition that can affect anyone at any age.
Methods: In this study, we enrolled a total of 49 bipolar disorder (BD) participants to 44 healthy control (HC) subjects. Bipolar disorder patients were enlisted with their consent using web portals, medical facilities, and local marketing. MRI contraindications, medical history, self-reported using a mood-altering medication, inadequate vision, and left-handedness were among the exclusion criteria. The various tissue structures which are: the gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were examined using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to ascertain these changes. We employed statistical parametric mapping (SPM) for both image processing and statistical analysis.
Results: Our findings demonstrate that individuals with bipolar disorder showed a substantial volume decrease in both gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM), with gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume decreases being more noticeable in the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. Additionally, individuals with bipolar disorder showed no CSF volume in any of the brain regions.
Conclusion: Our VBM research backs up earlier studies that link changes in brain structure, particularly gray matter and white matter, to bipolar disorder. These discoveries shed more information on the neurology of bipolar disorder and could guide the creation of more potent diagnostic and treatment modalities.
 
Keywords: 
Bipolar disorder; Voxel-Based Morphometry; Gray Matter; White Matter; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12)
 
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