Medial prefrontal cortex hyperactivation during social exclusion in borderline personality disorder
Received 2 April 2009; received in revised form 27 August 2009; accepted 9 December 2009.
Abstract
Frontal systems dysfunction and abandonment fears represent central features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD subjects (n=10) and matched non-psychiatric comparison subjects (n=10) completed a social–cognitive task with two confederates instructed to either include or exclude subjects from a circumscribed interaction. Evoked cerebral blood oxygenation in frontal cortex was measured using 16-channel functional near infrared spectroscopy. BPD subjects showed left medial prefrontal cortex hyperactivation during social exclusion suggesting potential dysfunction of frontolimbic circuitry.
aDepartment of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
bSchool of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
cDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
dDepartment of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
eSchool of Biological Sciences, The University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Corresponding author. University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, 912 S. Wood St., Suite 235—MC 913, Chicago, IL, 60612-7327, United States. Tel.: +1 312 355 0340; fax: +1 312 413 8837.
ABSTRACT