Observation of Genotype-Phenotype interaction effects on White Matter in Alzheimer Disease and Bipolar Disorder: a randomized controlled trial

Besga, A. 1, 3 , Graña, M. . 2 , Gonzalez-Pinto, A. 1, 3 , Gonzalez-Ortega, I. 1, 3 & Savio, A. 2

1 Unidad de Investigación en Psiquiatría, Hospital Santiago Apostol, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
2 Computational Intelligence Group, UPV/EHU
3 Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental - CIBERSAM), Spain.

Background: WM damage is associated with a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders and influence the prognosis. The mechanisms underlying WM damage is still unknown and recent studies suggest that genetic factors may be contributory. Objective: To analyze how neuregulin 1 (NRG-1) might be involved in white matter damage in Bipolar Disorder (BD) and Alzheimer?s Disease (AD).
Methods: One hundred elderly subjects are included in the present study. The size of the sample has been calculated to obtain a 90% of statistical strenght. Taking into account that the level of statistical significance is 5% (?=0.05; ?=0.10). All will be recruited in Santiago Apostol Hospital. Informed consent for participation will be obtained from each subject or an appropriate surrogate (in the case of patients with AD). The subjects will be divided into three groups. The AD group will include 100 subjects fulfilling the NINDS-ADRDA criteria for probable AD. The BD group will include 100 patients fulfilling DSM-IV?s criteria, and the control group will include 100 healthy subjects without memory complaints. All subjects will undergo a protocol including: 1.-Clinical evaluation; 2.-Evaluation of cognitive, functional, psychological and social domains, with the following variables: KATZ, Lawton, Barthel, NPI, PANSS, YMRS, HDRS-21, GDS, FAST, CDR, BRDS, MMSE, CAMCOG, Wisconsin, Trail Making, Stroop; 3.- Genetic NRG1 study; 4-Volumetric and diffusion tensor MRI.