Quantitative T1ρ mapping links the cerebellum and lithium use in bipolar disorder

Alterations of the cerebellum and basal ganglia in bipolar disorder mood states detected by quantitative T1ρ mapping

“…Conceivably, quantitative T1ρ mapping may help reveal important therapeutic effects of medications or potentially help identify individuals who may respond to a given therapy. We previously reported that lithium normalized T1ρ relaxation times in the cerebellum of participants with bipolar disorder in the euthymic mood state . In the present study, we considered the effect of lithium across all new participants with bipolar disorder, regardless of mood state, given the evidence that the cerebellar alterations appear to be a trait of the illness.…”

“…We performed a similar voxel‐wise analysis restricted to the cerebellum, to investigate the potential effects of lithium use on T1ρ relaxation times. We previously reported that euthymic participants with bipolar disorder using lithium had normalized T1ρ relaxation times in the cerebellum compared to participants with bipolar disorder who were not using lithium . Here, we compared participants with bipolar disorder who were not actively using lithium at the time of their MRI study to those participants who were using lithium, without regard to mood state.…”

Peripheral inflammation during abnormal mood states in bipolar I disorder

“…We also sought to determine if any neuroimaging correlates of circulating cytokines could be identified by a novel whole-brain imaging technology, T1ρ, which is thought to be sensitive to pH and could potentially be influenced by focal areas of inflammation (Johnson et al, 2015a, b; Mangia et al, 2013). In doing so, this is the first study of inflammation across distinct states of bipolar disorder to establish a sole primary hypothesis while simultaneously assessing patterns of inflammation across a variety of markers with neuroimaging correlates.…”

Bi-phase age-related brain gray matter magnetic resonance T1ρ relaxation time change in adults

“…Depending upon the tissue type, more than one mechanism may be operative simultaneously but with different relative contributions. During recent years, T1ρ relaxation has been increasingly used to explore the pathophysiology or predictive diagnostics of a number of neurological conditions [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Previous studies suggested that neurodegeneration may contribute to the increased T1ρ in brain regions [11][12][13].…”