title: A Voxel-Based Morphometric MRI Study in Young Adults with Borderline Personality Disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing evidence has documented subtle changes in brain morphology and function in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, results of magnetic resonance imaging volumetry in patients with BPD are inconsistent. In addition, few researchers using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) have focused on attachment and childhood trauma in BPD. This preliminary study was performed to investigate structural brain changes and their relationships to attachment and childhood trauma in a homogenous sample of young adults with BPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 34 young adults with BPD and 34 healthy controls (HCs) to assess regionally specific differences in gray matter volume (GMV) and gray matter concentration (GMC). Multiple regressions between brain volumes measured by VBM and attachment style questionnaire (ASQ) and childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) scores were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with HCs, subjects with BPD showed significant bilateral increases in GMV in the middle cingulate cortex (MCC)/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus. GMC did not differ significantly between groups. In multiple regression models, ASQ insecure attachment scores were correlated negatively with GMV in the precuneus/MCC and middle occipital gyrus in HCs, HCs with more severe insecure attachment showed smaller volumes in precuneus/MCC and middle occipital gyrus, whereas no negative correlations between insecure attachment and GMV in any region were found in BPD group. In addition, CTQ total scores were not correlated with GMV in any region in the two groups respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings fit with those of previous reports of larger precuneus GMV in patients with BPD, and suggest that GMV in the precuneus/MCC and middle occipital gyrus is associated inversely with insecure attachment style in HCs. Our finding of increased GMV in the MCC and PCC in patients with BPD compared with HCs has not been reported in previous VBM studies.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xinhu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, 55 Zhongshan Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mingtian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.|Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuqiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Changlian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiongzhao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.|National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Central South University, 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jinyao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult