Vestibular disorders are frequent in the general population. The clinical experience suggests that emotional/mood states could have a physiopathologic role on them, however, there is not yet enough scientific evidence. Bipolar disorder is a neuropsychiatric disorder that shows cyclic changes of mood between depression, euphoria (mania) and euthymic (normal mood). To document the vestibular activity in different mood states, we registered rotary chair vestibular tests with electronystagmography during different affective phases in a woman and man with bipolar disorder.
The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), a paired structure in the hypothalamus controls the circadian rhythms of sleep-wake, endocrine, motor activity, and autonomic nervous system in mammals. Major depression, a common mood disorder, shows abnormal circadian cycles, however, the chronobiologic mechanisms involved are still unknown. Previous studies in animals show that the right/left SCN controls the ipsilateral sympathetic activity. To have an appreciation of the sympathetic activity in right-handed humans, we measured the electrodermal activity (EDA) in both wrists in five healthy and five major depression subjects. Healthy subjects showed higher right side activity compared to left (R > L). Depressed patients, showed the contrary (R < L). These findings open the question of whether each half of the body's sympathetic activity depends on the ipsilateral SCN in humans. Also, the question was raised if abnormal asymmetries between right and left SCN could underlie depression's circadian disorders. This exploratory research allows introducing new approaches to mental and chronobiologic disorder's study in living humans.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.