Wen-Jang Chu1, Matthew M. Norris2, Jing-Huei Lee1,2, Kelly B. Jarvis1, Xin Wang2, Mi-Jung Kim1, Melissa P. DelBello1, Stephen M. Strakowski1,2, Caleb Adler1
1Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA; 2Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Abnormal lactate (Lac) levels in patients with bipolar disorder have been identified but difficult to identify. The present study investigated the Lac levels and its distribution in bipolar and healthy brains using 2-D 1H MRSI on a 4 Tesla MR system. The results showed Lac/NAA ratios were significantly higher in bipolar patients compared with healthy subjects. Also, Lac signals were mainly found in patients caudate and anterior cingulate cortex, components of the frontal-subcortical network, suggesting that affective dysregulation may be related to the metabolic abnormalities in this impaired neural circuit.