PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Verbal memory impairment in borderline personality disorder (BPD) is still a matter of debate. In this study we combine investigations of both, memory retrieval as well as underlying neural circuits in BPD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study regional brain activation in 18 right-handed female patients with BPD and 18 matched controls during the retrieval of an episodic memory retrieval (EMR) task (free recall of a word list) and a semantic memory retrieval (SMR) task (verbal fluency). Despite unaffected performance in EMR and SMR, patients with BPD showed task-specific increased activation compared with controls. During EMR, the increased activation encompassed the posterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, the left middle and superior temporal gyrus, the right inferior frontal gyros, and the right angular gyrus. SMR was associated with increased activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, of the right fusiform gyros, of the left anterior cingulate cortex, and of the left postcentral gyros. Our findings suggest that BPD patients may need to engage larger brain areas to reach a level of performance in episodic and semantic retrieval tasks that is comparable to that of healthy controls. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.