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02-02 Pituitary volume in adolescents with first-presentation borderline personality disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

B Garner ,
AM Chanen ,
L Phillips ,
D Velakoulis ,
SJ Wood ,
HJ Jackson ,
C Pantelis  and
PD McGorry
B Garner
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
AM Chanen
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
L Phillips
Affiliation:
School of Behavioural Sciences, The University of Melbourne
D Velakoulis
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, and Melbourne Health
SJ Wood
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, and Melbourne Health Brain Research Institute, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
HJ Jackson
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne School of Behavioural Sciences, The University of Melbourne
C Pantelis
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, and Melbourne Health
PD McGorry
Affiliation:
ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
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Abstract

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Type
Abstracts from ‘Brainwaves’— The Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Annual Meeting 2006, 6–8 December, Sydney, Australia
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 317
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

Background:

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) might be associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. Previous studies in adult BPD samples have been equivocal possibly because of confounding factors, such as chronicity of BPD and associated comorbidity. Studying firstpresentation adolescent BPD samples minimizes these confounds.

Methods:

Twenty BPD (15 women, mean age 17.3 years) and 20 healthy control participants (15 women, mean age 19.0 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Pituitary gland volumes (PGVs) were estimated and compared between the groups and also within the BPD group, based upon exposure to childhood trauma.

Results:

PGV did not differ between patients with BPD and controls (P = 0.6; effect size = 0.19). Patients with BPD exposed to childhood trauma (n = 9) had smaller (−18%) pituitaries compared with patients with BPD with no exposure to childhood trauma (n = 10; P = 0.1; Effect size = 0.74).

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that exposure to trauma, rather than BPD per se, might be associated with altered PGV, possibly reflecting HPA dysfunction.