Corpus callosum abnormalities in women with borderline personality disorder and comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
OBJECTIVE
Decreased brain volumes in prefrontal, limbic and parietal areas have been found in women with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Recent models suggest impaired structural and functional connectivity in this condition. To investigate this, we studied the thickness of the corpus callosum, the largest connecting fibre bundle in the human brain.


METHODS
We acquired magnetic resonance imaging scans from 20 healthy women and 20 women with BPD and comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. A novel computational mesh-based method was applied to measure callosal thickness at high spatial resolution.


RESULTS
Women with BPD had a thinner isthmus of the corpus callosum, compared with healthy women. In the patient group, a history of childhood sexual abuse was associated with a thinner posterior body of the corpus callosum.


CONCLUSIONS
Interhemispheric structural connectivity involving parietal and temporal areas may be impaired in women with BPD and comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Rüsch, Zahn, Ebert, Tebartz van Elst-Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, and the South German Brain Imaging Center, Freiburg, Germany. nicolas.ruesch@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Nicolas
N
Rüsch
Eileen
E
Luders
Klaus
K
Lieb
Roland
R
Zahn
Dieter
D
Ebert
Paul M
PM
Thompson
Arthur W
AW
Toga
Ludger Tebartz
LT
van Elst
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology