Mareen Hoerst1, Wolfgang Weber-Fahr1, Nuran Tunc-Skarka1, Matthias Ruf1, Christian Schmahl2, Gabriele Ende1
1Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; 2Department of Psychosomatic and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany
The core of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a neuronal dysfunction in a frontolimbic network. The amygdala is a key region of the limbic system and plays an important role in impulsivity, affect regulation and emotional information processing, and thus are related to BPD symptoms. In contrast to other brain regions the amygdala is an extremely difficult region to acquire spectra from. We used 1H MRS at 3T to determine alterations of the metabolism in a precisely defined voxel within the left amygdala in BPD patients compared to controls. Decreased levels of N-acetylaspartate and total creatine in patients were observed.