Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Bel-Air 2, 1226 Thônex, Geneva, Switzerland.
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Brain Topogr. 2024 May;37(3):397-409. doi: 10.1007/s10548-023-01005-3. Epub 2023 Sep 30.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by emotional dysregulation, unstable sense of self, and impulsive, potentially self-harming behavior. In order to provide new neurophysiological insights on BPD, we complemented resting-state EEG frequency spectrum analysis with EEG microstates (MS) analysis to capture the spatiotemporal dynamics of large-scale neural networks. High-density EEG was recorded at rest in 16 BPD patients and 16 age-matched neurotypical controls. The relative power spectrum and broadband MS spatiotemporal parameters were compared between groups and their inter-correlations were examined. Compared to controls, BPD patients showed similar global spectral power, but exploratory univariate analyses on single channels indicated reduced relative alpha power and enhanced relative delta power at parietal electrodes. In terms of EEG MS, BPD patients displayed similar MS topographies as controls, indicating comparable neural generators. However, the MS temporal dynamics were significantly altered in BPD patients, who demonstrated opposite prevalence of MS C (lower than controls) and MS E (higher than controls). Interestingly, MS C prevalence correlated positively with global alpha power and negatively with global delta power, while MS E did not correlate with any measures of spectral power. Taken together, these observations suggest that BPD patients exhibit a state of cortical hyperactivation, represented by decreased posterior alpha power, together with an elevated presence of MS E, consistent with symptoms of elevated arousal and/or vigilance. This is the first study to investigate resting-state MS patterns in BPD, with findings of elevated MS E and the suggestion of reduced posterior alpha power indicating a disorder-specific neurophysiological signature previously unreported in a psychiatric population.
边缘型人格障碍（BPD）是一种使人衰弱的精神疾病，其特征为情绪失调、不稳定的自我意识和冲动、可能自伤的行为。为了提供关于 BPD 的新神经生理学见解，我们将静息态 EEG 频谱分析与 EEG 微状态（MS）分析相结合，以捕捉大规模神经网络的时空动态。在 16 名 BPD 患者和 16 名年龄匹配的神经典型对照组中，在静息状态下记录了高密度 EEG。比较了组间的相对频谱功率和宽带 MS 时空参数，并检查了它们之间的相互关系。与对照组相比，BPD 患者表现出相似的全局谱功率，但对单个通道的探索性单变量分析表明，顶叶电极的相对阿尔法功率降低，相对德尔塔功率增强。在 EEG MS 方面，BPD 患者显示出与对照组相似的 MS 拓扑结构，表明存在可比的神经发生器。然而，MS 时间动态在 BPD 患者中发生了显著改变，他们表现出 MS C（低于对照组）和 MS E（高于对照组）的相反流行率。有趣的是，MS C 的流行率与全局阿尔法功率呈正相关，与全局德尔塔功率呈负相关，而 MS E 与任何谱功率测量均不相关。总之，这些观察结果表明，BPD 患者表现出皮层过度激活的状态，表现为后阿尔法功率降低，同时 MS E 升高，与觉醒和/或警觉升高的症状一致。这是第一项研究 BPD 静息状态 MS 模式的研究，发现 MS E 升高和后阿尔法功率降低的建议表明存在以前在精神病患者中未报告过的特定于疾病的神经生理学特征。
