Anterior cingulate volume reduction in adolescents with borderline personality disorder and co-morbid major depression

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious illness characterized by emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and impaired interpersonal relationships. Prior work shows the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG)—a region primarily involved in assessing the salience of emotional information and regulating emotional responses--is smaller in adults with BPD. We tested the hypothesis that, similar to adults, adolescents with BPD would have reduced Brodmann area (BA)-24 volume. Thirteen adolescent inpatients with co-morbid BPD and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 13 matched healthy controls received 3T-MRI scans. Using a cytoarchitecturally-derived approach measuring gray and white matter volume, we observed a Group × Cingulate BA (25,24,31,23,29) × Matter (gray, white) type interaction indicating the BPD/MDD adolescents had smaller BA24 volume in gray but not white matter. Greater number of suicide attempts and BPD symptom severity measured by the Diagnostic Interview for BPD-revised (DIB-R) total score but not depressive symptoms measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was associated with smaller BA24 volume. Our preliminary findings suggest that BPD-related abnormalities in BA24 volume may occur early in the developmental course of BPD with MDD. Future studies examining samples of MDD patients with and without BPD co-morbidity will be needed to clarify whether BA24 volume reductions are specific to BPD.