Abstract #3462

Latent Volumetric Structure of Gray Matter in Adolescent Bipolar Disorder Using Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling

Ping-Hong Yeh¹, Mark Nicoletti, Hongtu Zhu, Hasan Baloch, John Hatch², Giovana Zunta-Soares, Jair C. Soares

¹Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; ²Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, U.S.A

We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess the a priori statistical relationships among the latent variables, which may influence the volumes of other regions or structures, within the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical and limbic-cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical circuits have been hypothesized in mood disorders. Our results suggest different patterns between adolescent healthy controls and bipolar disorder patients for the spatial relationships, mainly from the projection of orbitofrontal cortex to subcortical structures within the CSTC and LCSTC circuits. These differences may point to abnormalities that underlie these mood disorders.