Brain Imaging: UK Biobank Epidemiology Study

I wanted to alert Brain Posts readers to a very important ongoing study out of the United Kingdom.

The UK Biobank prospective epidemiological study is a study designed to identify imaging markers for a wide variety of diseases. Additionally, a goal of the study is to better understand disease mechanisms.

Here is what is being collected on 100,000 healthy participants who will be tracked over decades:

• Brain structural and functional imaging (fMRI)
• Brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
• Neuropsychological testing, i.e. cognition
• Body and cardiac imaging
• Genetics
• Lifestyle information
• Biomarker phenotyping
• Health records

This ambitious study reminds me of the Framingham study in the U.S. that helped identify a group of risk factors for cardiac and vascular disease.

Some early results from the UK Biobank study of early 5,000 subjects has been published in Nature Neuroscience.

The manuscript shows that the UK Biobank will be a powerful resource in replicating other studies. They reported a initial attempt to replicate an Austrian Stroke Prevention study (ASPS) finding. The UK Biobank data analysis demonstrated changes in brain gray matter on T2* imaging linked to older age, smoking and increased BMI. This finding is felt to demonstrate increased brain iron accumulation with aging and degeneration.

The UK Biobank data results were "highly concordant with the ASPS".

I highly recommend reviewing this early manuscript in the UK Biobank Epidemiological Study.  Readers can access the free full-text manuscript by clicking on the PMID link in the citation below. It features a review of the methodology of the study. Numerous important research findings will emerge from this study in the years and decades to come.

The Brits are to be congratulated on such an important and costly effort.

Image of brain is an iPad screen shot from the iPad app 3D Brain.

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Miller KL, Alfaro-Almagro F, Bangerter NK, Thomas DL, Yacoub E, Xu J, Bartsch AJ, Jbabdi S, Sotiropoulos SN, Andersson JL, Griffanti L, Douaud G, Okell TW, Weale P, Dragonu I, Garratt S, Hudson S, Collins R, Jenkinson M, Matthews PM, & Smith SM (2016). Multimodal population brain imaging in the UK Biobank prospective epidemiological study. Nature neuroscience PMID: 27643430

Top Research in Bipolar Disorder: Reading Links

In June I will be looking for some of the top recent research advances in bipolar disorder.

Although less common than unipolar depression, bipolar disorder is a serious disorder with high rates of disability and hospitalization.

I will try to cover the spectrum of important areas in bipolar disorder during the month including: epidemiology, risk factors, biomarkers, genetics, brain imaging, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology and psychological interventions.

Here is a starting group of important studies. Some will be covered in more detail in a future post. Click on the study title to be taken to the full abstract and the free full-text manuscript.

Suicidal behavior in bipolar disorder with antidepressant use

This study examined participants in the Collaborative Depression Study, a naturalistic longitudinal study of bipolar I, bipolar II and unipolar depression. The study found a 54% reduction in suicidal behavior in bipolar I subjects receiving antidepressant therapy and a 35% reduction in bipolar II subjects receiving antidepressants. Of note, use of antidepressants in unipolar depression was not linked to change in suicidal behavior frequency. 

Anti-inflammatory markers in bipolar disorder: Effects of celecoxib (Celebrex)

Mood disorders are commonly linked to elevated markers of inflammation including serum cytokines. In this study, subjects with bipolar disorder receiving electroconvulsive therapy were randomly assigned to the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib versus placebo. Celecoxib treatment was linked to reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha but not to reduced levels of two interleukin levels and c reactive protein levels.

Biomarkers in bipolar disorder

This manuscript is a review of the literature in biomarker research for bipolar disorder. The authors found support for several brain structural markers including reduced gray matter volumes in the prefrontal cortex. Serum measures of neutrophic factors, oxidative stress and inflammation also hold promise as biomarkers in bipolar disorder.

Brain connectivity in bipolar disorder vs schizophrenia vs controls

A study of resting state connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging targeted a group of subjects with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and healthy controls. The study found significant differences in connectivity between bipolar subjects and controls although these differences were less pronounced than the differences between a group of schizophrenics and controls.

Genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar disorder

This study examined results from 60,000 subjects in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. The study found evidence for common pathways across the schizophrenia, bipolar and unipolar groups that involve neuronal, immune function and histone methylation.

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Photo of orangutan is from the author's files.