Cited by 177Personality Disorders and PsychopathologyPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual OffendingNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Structural brain abnormalities in borderline personality disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study

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Soloff, Paul, Nutche, Jeffrey, Goradia, Dhruman, Diwadkar, Vaibhav·2008·Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging

Abstract

Imaging studies using region-of-interest morphometry and positron emission tomography have contributed to our understanding of structural and functional abnormalities in borderline personality disorder (BPD); however, both methods have practical limitations to their usefulness for exploratory studies of brain-behavior relationships. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in 34 subjects with BPD and 30 healthy control (HC) subjects to study effects of diagnosis, gender, childhood sexual abuse, depressed mood, impulsivity and aggression on group differences. VBM is a computer-based method for whole brain analysis that combines the advantages of a functional study with a structural method. The BPD subjects, diagnosed with the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Patients and the International Personality Disorders Examination, were compared with 30 HC subjects, with age and gender covaried. Analyses were repeated separately by gender and, in women, by histories of childhood sexual abuse. Depressed mood, impulsivity, and aggression were covaried in separate analyses. Compared with HC, BPD subjects had significant bilateral reductions in gray matter concentrations in ventral cingulate gyrus and several regions of the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, and uncus. BPD women (and abused BPD women), but not BPD men, had significant reductions in medial temporal lobe, including the amygdala. BPD men, but not BPD women, showed diminished gray matter concentrations in the anterior cingulate gyrus compared with findings in HC subjects. Covarying for depressed mood rendered group differences non-significant in the ventral cingulate but had little effect on differences in medial temporal cortex. Covarying for aggression (LHA) had relatively little effect on group differences, while covarying for impulsivity, as determined by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, rendered all previously noted voxel-level group differences non-significant. Diminished gray matter in the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal cortex may mediate the dysregulation of impulse and affect in BPD. Group differences varied greatly by gender, levels of depression, and impulsivity. VBM is an efficient method for exploratory study of brain-behavior relationships.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.02.003

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  • Two relatively well-powered volumetric studies of BPD found smaller gray matter volume in rACC and lOFC.

    “Nevertheless, two relatively well-powered volumetric studies of BPD (Soloff et al., 2008, 2012) found smaller gray matter volume in rACC and lOFC (Figures 8A,B).”

    From Top-Down Dysregulation—From ADHD to Emotional Instability (2016) · cites this paper as Soloff et al., 2008

    The Results (§3.1 and §3.3; page numbers unavailable) report reduced gray matter concentration in the anterior cingulate, including on the right, though the male-only finding did not extend to women. The Discussion (§4) explicitly says this study found no structural abnormalities in the orbitofrontal cortex, so it does not support attributing a smaller left orbitofrontal volume to Soloff et al. (2008). (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Well-powered studies of BPD showed smaller gray matter volumes in rACC and lOFC.

    “By contrast, well-powered studies of BPD (Soloff et al., 2008, 2012) showed smaller gray matter volumes in rACC and lOFC.”

    From Top-Down Dysregulation—From ADHD to Emotional Instability (2016) · cites this paper as Soloff et al., 2008

    The Discussion (page unavailable) reports reduced anterior-cingulate gray matter concentration in BPD men, but not women; it does not establish a general reduction in rACC volume. It explicitly says the study found no structural abnormalities in orbital frontal cortex, so the lOFC finding is not supported by this paper. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Barratt ES Slaughter L 1998 Defining, measuring and predicting impulsive-aggression: A heuristic model Behavioral Science and Law 16 285 302 9768462
  2. Diwadkar VA Lacerda AL Keshavan MS Hardan AY Soares JC 2003 Voxel-based and region-of-interest morphometry convergently reveal regional gray matter abnormalities in unipolar depression Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance Medicine 11 182
  3. Gunderson JG Kolb JE Austin V 1981 The diagnostic interview for borderlines American Journal of Psychiatry 138 896 903 7258348

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Authors
Soloff, P., Nutche, J., Goradia, D., & Diwadkar, V.
Affiliations
  • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (US)
  • Wayne State University (US)
Venue
Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-12
Volume
164
Issue
3
Pages
223-236
ISSN
0925-4927 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2027259302
Cited by
177
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 14
FWCI
8.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (MH068680, K01MH068680, MH-48463, R01MH048463)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
borderline personality disorder, gray matter reduction, anterior cingulate cortex, medial temporal lobe, hippocampus, amygdala, child sexual abuse, gender differences, impulsivity, aggression, depressive mood, brain-behavior relationship
MeSH terms
Adult, Aggression, Borderline Personality Disorder, Brain, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Suicide, Attempted

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