• Bartholomeus C M Benno Haarman, Rixt F Riemersma-Van der Lek, Jan Cees de Groot, Henricus G Eric Ruhé, Hans C Klein, Tjitske E Zandstra, Huibert Burger, Robert A Schoevers, Erik F J de Vries, Hemmo A Drexhage, Willem A Nolen, and Janine Doorduin.
• University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Psychiatry, Groningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: b.c.m.haarman@umcg.nl.
• Brain Behav. Immun. 2014 Aug 1; 40: 219-25.

BackgroundThe "monocyte-T-cell theory of mood disorders" regards neuroinflammation, i.e. marked activation of microglia, as a driving force in bipolar disorder. Microglia activation can be visualized in vivo using [(11)C]-(R)-PK11195 PET. Indirect evidence suggests the hippocampus as a potential focus of neuroinflammation in bipolar disorder. We aim to determine if there is increased [(11)C]-(R)-PK11195 binding to activated microglia in the hippocampus of patients with bipolar I disorder when compared to healthy controls.Material And MethodsFourteen patients with bipolar I disorder and eleven healthy controls were included in the analyses. Dynamic 60-min PET scans were acquired after the injection of [(11)C]-(R)-PK11195. All subjects underwent psychiatric interviews as well as an MRI scan, which was used for anatomic co-registration in the data analysis. The data from the PET scans was analyzed with a two-tissue-compartment model to calculate the binding potential, using the metabolite-corrected plasma and blood curve as input.ResultsA significantly increased [(11)C]-(R)-PK11195 binding potential, which is indicative of neuroinflammation, was found in the right hippocampus of the patients when compared to the healthy controls (1.66 (CI 1.45-1.91) versus 1.33 (CI 1.16-1.53); p=0.033, respectively). Although the same trend was observed in the left hippocampus, this difference was not statistically significant.ConclusionThis study is the first to demonstrate the presence of focal neuroinflammation in the right hippocampus in bipolar I disorder.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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