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Functional Connectivity Density, Local Brain Spontaneous Activity, and Their Coupling Strengths in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder - PubMed

  • ️Mon Jan 01 2018

Functional Connectivity Density, Local Brain Spontaneous Activity, and Their Coupling Strengths in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Xiaoxia Lei et al. Front Psychiatry. 2018.

Abstract

In this study, combining degree centrality (DC) and fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF) analyses of resting state (rs)-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, we aimed to explore functional connectivity density, local brain spontaneous activity, and their coupling strengths in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Forty-three BPD patients and 39 demographically-matched controls underwent rs-fMRI after completing a series of psychological tests. Two-sample t-tests were performed to compare DC and fALFF between these two groups. Across-voxel correlation analysis was conducted to assess DC-fALFF coupling strengths in each group. Imaging parameters and psychological variables were correlated by Pearson correlation analysis in the BPD group. Altered DC and fALFF values in the BPD group, compared with the control group, were distributed mainly in default mode network (DMN), and DC-fALFF coupling strengths were decreased in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and right precuneus in the BPD group. Additionally, insecure attachment scores correlated positively with left precuneus DC and negatively with fALFF of the right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in the BPD group. These altered DC and fALFF findings indicate that the BPD patients had disturbed functional connectivity density and local spontaneous activity in the DMN compared with control subjects. Their decreased connectivity-amplitude coupling suggests that the left MTG and right precuneus may be functional impairment hubs in BPD. Disturbed rs function in the left precuneus and right PCC might underlie insecure attachment in BPD.

Keywords: borderline personality disorder; coupling strength; degree centrality; fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation; rs-fMRI.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

Inter-group comparisons of across-voxel correlation in the left MTG, right precuneus, and whole brain. Compared with the control group, the BPD group showed increased DC, mainly in the left MTG, left supramarginal gyrus and adjacent angular gyrus, left inferior occipital gyrus, and bilateral precuneus. Meanwhile, the BPD group showed decreased fALFF in the right PCC extending partly to the adjacent precuneus, and increased fALFF in the left MTG, right lingual gyrus, and bilateral cuneus. Results were corrected by AlphaSim (cluster p < 0.05, height threshold p < 0.005, and cluster size ≥675 mm3 for DC and fALFF). Color bar indicates T score scale.

Figure 2
Figure 2

Inter-group comparison of across-voxel DC and fALFF correlations in left MTG, right precuneus, and whole brain. Coupling strengths in the left MTG and right precuneus were lower for BPD patients than controls. *p < 0.05; error bars are SEMs. fALFF, fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation; DC, degree centrality; BPD, borderline personality disorder; MTG_L, left middle temporal gyrus.

Figure 3
Figure 3

Correlations between imaging (DC and fALFF) and psychological variables in the BPD group. Insecure attachment scores correlated positively with left precuneus DC values (A) and correlated negatively with right PCC fALFF values (B). fALFF, fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation; DC, degree centrality; Precuneus_L, left precuneus; PCC_R, right posterior cingutate cortex.

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