title: Morphometric hemispheric asymmetry of orbitofrontal cortex in women with borderline personality disorder: a multi-parameter approach.
abstract: Functional imaging studies have implicated the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the pathophysiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD). To date, however, volume-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have yielded mixed results. We used a surface-based processing approach that allowed us to measure five morphometric cortical features of the OFC, including volumetric (cortical thickness and surface area) and geometric (mean curvature, depth of sulcus, and metric distortion - three indicators of cortical folding) parameters. Participants comprised 25 female BPD patients with no other current psychiatric comorbidity and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls who received structural MRI scans. Images were processed using the Freesurfer package. All BPD patients had a history of comorbid psychiatric disorder(s) and were currently on medications. Compared with controls, the BPD group showed reduced cortical thickness, surface area, mean curvature, depth of sulcus, and metric distortion in the right medial OFC. In the left medial OFC, the BPD group had reduced cortical thickness and mean curvature, but increased metric distortion. This study confirmed the utility of surface-based analysis in the study of BPD cortical structures. In addition, we observed extensive structural abnormalities in the medial OFC of female subjects with BPD, findings that were most pronounced in the right OFC, with preliminary data suggesting hemispheric asymmetry.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil. Electronic address: filho.gerardo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gerardo Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: de Araujo Filho
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Chadi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abdallah
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil; Center of Mathematics, Computation and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC, Rua Santa Adélia, 166 - Bairro Bangu, CEP: 09.210-170, Santo André - SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: João Ricardo
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thabata Bueno
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: de Araujo
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil; Ambulatorio de Transtornos de Personalidade (AMBORDER), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cláudio Mauricio
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lisondo
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Álvaro Ancona
authors.initials: ÁA
authors.lastname: de Faria
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ivaldo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodrigo Affonsecca
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.affiliation: Ambulatorio de Transtornos de Personalidade (AMBORDER), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Julieta Freitas Ramalho
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coplan
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/UNIFESP, Rua Borges Lagoa, 570 - Vila Clementino, CEP: 04038-032, São Paulo - SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andrea Parolin
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jackowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Cortical thickness; Magnetic resonance imaging; Multimodal analysis