A Diffusion Tensor Image (DTI) study was performed in 28 patients with DSM-IV BPD (13 males and 15 females) and in 26 healthy control subjects. Voxel wise analysis was performed using TBSS (diffusion toolbox of FSL 鈥?functional MRI Software Library) to localize regions of white matter showing significant changes of fractional anisotropy (FA).
TBSS analysis revealed a statistically significant decrease of FA in the genu and rostral areas of the corpus callosum (p < 0.005), as well as in left and right prefrontal white matter fasciculi (p < 0.002) in BPD participants compared with controls. White matter abnormalities were not correlated with age, neurological symptoms or comorbid ADHD.
Despite the reduced sample size, the results are in line with previous findings on reduced orbitofrontal functions in BPD with prominent affective-depressive feature and suggest that emotional and behavioral symptoms of BPD patients might be associated to damage at the connectivity tracts in these brain areas.