MORPHOSTRUCTURAL CEREBRAL FEATURES ASSOCIATED TO BORDERLINE AND

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. "Morphostructural cerebral features associated to borderline and bipolar disorders" Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is prevalent, affecting as many as 1% to 2% of the general population, and this incidence rises as high as 15% to 20% in psychiatric settings. Although psychosocial causes of BPD have been explored in many studies, relatively little data exist regarding biological causes. Use of neuroimaging in the study of BPD dates back only a few years. BPD has been linked to the amygdala and limbic systems of the brain, the centres that control emotion and, particularly, rage, fear and impulsive automatic reactions. Studies have shown that the hippocampus and the amygdala may be as much as 16% smaller in people with BPD and have suggested that experiences of trauma may lead to these neuroanatomical changes. Furthermore, some clinical similarity with Bipolar disorder (BD) and BPD have been described although the results are often contradictory and not exhaustive. Aim: To study morphostructural cerebral features associated to BPD and BP using advanced neuroimaging tools and to assess whether an association between specific cerebral areas/circuits and clinical features exists. Material and methods. We included in the study 25 BDP, 19 BP and 46 controls. Diagnoses will be made according DSM IV criteria. Patients underwent clinical and neuropsychological assessment. All patients will underwent MR. The scan protocol included a 3D T1-weighted sequence and PD/T2-weighted dual echo sequence. Healthy subjects were consecutive normal volunteers picked among those undergoing brain MR scan at the Neuroradiology Unit of the "Poliambulanza" Hospital, Brescia for reasons unrelated to cognition, such as migraine and headache, auditory or visual symptoms, paresthesias, and whose scan was negative and enrolled in a study on normal brain structure . Controls were matched to patients with regard to sex, age and education. Cortical pattern matching will be used to detect and visualize cortical variability due to the effect of CS and genetic factors on the brain. In line with literature we will study hippocampus using radial mapping.