Journal article
Neural correlates of improved recognition of happy faces after erythropoietin treatment in bipolar disorder
- Abstract:
- Objective: Bipolar disorder is associated with impairments in social cognition including the recognition of happy faces. This is accompanied by imbalanced cortico‐limbic response to emotional faces. We found that EPO improved the recognition of happy faces in patients with bipolar disorder. This randomized, controlled, longitudinal fMRI study explores the neuronal underpinnings of this effect. Method: Forty‐four patients with bipolar disorder in full or partial remission were randomized to eight weekly erythropoietin (EPO; 40 000 IU) or saline (NaCl 0.9%) infusions in a double‐blind, parallel‐group design. Participants underwent whole‐brain fMRI at 3T, mood ratings and blood tests at baseline and week 14. During fMRI, participants viewed happy and fearful faces and performed a gender discrimination task. Results: Thirty‐four patients had complete pre‐ and post‐treatment fMRI data (EPO: N = 18, saline: N = 16). Erythropoietin vs. saline increased right superior frontal response to happy vs. fearful faces. This correlated with improved happiness recognition in the EPO group. Erythropoietin also enhanced gender discrimination accuracy for happy faces. These effects were not influenced by medication, mood, red blood cells or blood pressure. Conclusions: Together with previous findings, the present observation suggests that increased dorsal prefrontal attention control is a common mechanism of EPO‐associated improvements across several cognitive domains.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 297.8KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1111/acps.12915
Authors
- Publisher:
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd
- Journal:
- Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica More from this journal
- Volume:
- 138
- Issue:
- 4
- Pages:
- 336-347
- Publication date:
- 2018-06-07
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-05-11
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1600-0447
- ISSN:
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0001-690X
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:848085
- UUID:
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uuid:10792ee7-291f-4498-b1eb-ed2f4aa5e6e2
- Local pid:
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pubs:848085
- Source identifiers:
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848085
- Deposit date:
-
2018-05-18
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- John Wiley & Sons A/S
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Notes:
- Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from Wiley at: https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12915
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