Decreased serum allopregnanolone and progesterone levels in male patients with bipolar disorder and their effects on cognitive functions

The progression of bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, mania, and hypomania, thus affecting the daily functionality of individuals. Previous studies have shown that a large proportion of patients diagnosed with BD who are in clinical remission experience signi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 2024-04, Vol.274 (3), p.515-524
Main Authors: Karademir, Mihrali, Beyazyüz, Elmas, Beyazyüz, Murat, Yılmaz, Ahsen, Albayrak, Yakup
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affective disorders
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar Disorder - psychology
Body mass index
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Cognition
Cognitive ability
Humans
Male
Mania
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Neuropsychological Tests
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Pregnanolone
Progesterone
Psychiatry
Remission
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The progression of bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, mania, and hypomania, thus affecting the daily functionality of individuals. Previous studies have shown that a large proportion of patients diagnosed with BD who are in clinical remission experience significant functional disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the relationships between cognitive impairment and serum progesterone, allopregnanolone and BDNF levels in male bipolar disorder patients who are in the euthymic period. Our study included 41 euthymic male patients with bipolar disorder and 40 age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking-matched male healthy control subjects. Neuropsychiatric tests such as the Stroop Test TBAG Form, Auditory Verbal Digit Span Test- Form B (VADS-B) and Cancellation Test were administered to all participants, and 5–7 ml of peripheral venous blood sample was taken from all participants. Serum allopregnanolone, progesterone and BDNF levels were also measured in all participants. Serum allopregnanolone and progesterone levels were found to be lower in bipolar patients, and it was observed that the serum level of allopregnanolone decreased as the disease duration increased. The serum BDNF levels were similar between groups. The cognitive functions assessed using the Stroop, VADS-B and cancellation tests were found to be better in healthy subjects. The neurocognitive test performances of all participants were strongly positively correlated with allopregnanolone levels. The present study supports the hypothesis that allopregnanolone acts as an endogenous mood stabilizer.
ISSN:0940-1334
1433-8491
DOI:10.1007/s00406-023-01607-9