Disturbances of Dynamic Function in Patients With Bipolar Disorder I and Its Relationship With Executive-Function Deficit

Abnormity in brain regional function and inter-regional cooperation have been linked with the dysfunction during cognitive and emotional processing in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. Recent evidences have suggested that brain function is not static but temporal dynamic. In present study, we aimed to characterize the temporal dynamics of regional function and inter-regional cooperation in BD and its relationship with executive dysfunction, an important deficit in BD. Resting-state functional MRI was performed in patients with bipolar I disorder (BDI) (n = 18) and healthy controls (HCs, n = 19). We first assessed local-function temporal variety with dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF). Region with significant inter-groups difference in dALFF was chosen as a seed to calculate inter-regions connective temporal variety with dynamic functional connectivity (dFC). The executive function was measured by Verbal Fluency Test (VFT). The relationship between executive function and brain dynamics were examined. Compared with HC, the BDI group showed decreased dALFF (less temporal variability) in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and decreased dFC between PCC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The PCC-mPFC dFC was positively associated with VFT in BDI patients, but not in HC. These findings implicated the reduced temporal variability in local region and inter-regions cooperation in BDI, which may be a neural substrate of executive-function deficit in BDI.