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Although executive and other cognitive deficits have been found in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), whether these have brain functional correlates has been little studied. This study aimed to examine patterns of task-related activation and de-activation during the performance of a working memory task in patients with the disorder.
Methods
Sixty-seven DSM-IV BPD patients and 67 healthy controls underwent fMRI during the performance of the n-back task. Linear models were used to obtain maps of within-group activations and areas of differential activation between the groups.
Results
On corrected whole-brain analysis, there were no activation differences between the BPD patients and the healthy controls during the main 2-back v. baseline contrast, but reduced activation was seen in the precentral cortex bilaterally and the left inferior parietal cortex in the 2-back v. 1-back contrast. The patients showed failure of de-activation affecting the medial frontal cortex and the precuneus, plus in other areas. The changes did not appear to be attributable to previous history of depression, which was present in nearly half the sample.
Conclusions
In this study, there was some, though limited, evidence for lateral frontal hypoactivation in BPD during the performance of an executive task. BPD also appears to be associated with failure of de-activation in key regions of the default mode network.
Delusional disorder has been the subject of very little investigation
using brain imaging.
Aims
To examine potential structural and/or functional brain abnormalities in
this disorder.
Method
We used structural imaging (voxel-based morphometry, VBM) and functional
imaging (during performance of the n-back task and
whole-brain resting connectivity analysis) to examine 22 patients meeting
DSM-IV criteria for delusional disorder and 44 matched healthy
controls.
Results
The patients showed grey matter reductions in the medial frontal/anterior
cingulate cortex and bilateral insula on unmodulated (but not on
modulated) VBM analysis, failure of de-activation in the medial
frontal/anterior cingulate cortex during performance of the
n-back task, and decreased resting-state connectivity
in the bilateral insula.
Conclusions
The findings provide evidence of brain abnormality in the medial
frontal/anterior cingulate cortex and insula in delusional disorder. A
role for the former region in the pathogenesis of delusions is consistent
with several other lines of evidence.
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