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Functional changes

Brain functional alterations in bipolar disorder include changes to cerebral blood flow and metabolism, electrophysiology, body functioning, and biochemicals. Click on the links or the tabs below to access the information, or browse via the drop-down menu on the left.

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Body structure and function

Body functioning

Alterations in body functioning have been found in people mental disorders. For bipolar disorder, these include changes in body movements, sleep disturbances, neurological functioning, and olfactory functioning. Click on the links or the tabs below to access the information, or browse via the drop-down menu on the left. Image: ©stock.adobe.com

Biochemical changes

Biochemical alterations have been found in many mental disorders. These include changes to neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA, and other biochemicals including those related to the immune system. Click on the links or the tabs below to access all the information, or browse via the drop-down menu on the left. Image: ©cutimage - stock.adobe.com

Cerebral blood flow and metabolism

Cerebral blood flow and metabolism changes in bipolar disorder are detected using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). These assess changes to brain activity during rest and during cognitive tasks when compared to people without a mental illness. Click on the links or the tabs below to access the information, or browse via the drop-down menu to the left. Image: © 2018 Andrew Ostrovsky - stock.adobe.com

Electrophysiology

Alterations in electrophysiology have been observed in people with bipolar disorder. Electroencephalography (EEG) uses electrodes on the scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain. EEG also gives rise to event related potentials (ERP), which measure the EEG activity directly evoked by a stimulus, often using cognitive or perceptual stimuli. One example of an ERP is the P300 wave, which is measured primarily over the parietal lobe and is used as a measure of cognitive function. Another example is the P50 event-related potential, which is interpreted as a physiological substrate for an inability to “gate” or inhibit irrelevant sensory information. Click on the links or the tabs below to access the information, or browse via the drop-down menu on the left. Image: ©vegefox.com - stock.adobe.com

NeuRA Libraries

Title Colour Legend:
Green - Topic summary is available.
Orange - Topic summary is being compiled.
Red - Topic summary has no current systematic review available.