1. Diazepam binding inhibitor and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate plasma levels in borderline personality disorder adolescents
- Author
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Lucio Tremolizzo, Francesca Neri, Renata Nacinovich, Monica Bomba, Carlo Ferrarese, Elisa Conti, Marco Casati, Orlando Uccellini, Maria Sara Rossi, Conti, E, Nacinovich, R, Bomba, M, Uccellini, O, Rossi, M, Casati, M, Neri, F, Ferrarese, C, and Tremolizzo, L
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Hydrocortisone ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,Borderline Personality Disorder ,Internal medicine ,mental disorders ,medicine ,Humans ,Clinical phenotype ,Borderline personality disorder ,Biological Psychiatry ,Diazepam Binding Inhibitor ,Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ,Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate ,MED/26 - NEUROLOGIA ,DBI, borderline personality disorder, DBI, plasma ,Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ,Plasma levels ,medicine.disease ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Endocrinology ,Adolescent Behavior ,MED/39 - NEUROPSICHIATRIA INFANTILE ,Case-Control Studies ,Female ,Psychology ,Diazepam binding inhibitor - Abstract
Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients display a complex and heterogeneous clinical phenotype that plausibly implies variable underlying pathogenic mechanisms. A dysregulation of peripheral benzodiazepine receptors has previously been shown in BPD peripheral tissues, implying possible alterations of its ligand, the diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) or of the downstream products of its activation, i.e. neuroactive steroids. Methods: The aim of this work consisted in assessing, by ELISA, fasting plasma levels of DBI and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), including cortisol and the cortisol-to-DHEA-S molar ratio (CDR), in 17 BPD adolescents versus 13 healthy controls, testing the possibility that clinical scales related to depressive or anxious traits (CDI, STAI-Y) or to disease severity (BPDCL) might be associated with a selective dysregulation of these parameters. Results: DBI plasma levels were unchanged, while DHEA-S ones were significantly increased (approx. 70%) and the CDR decreased in BPD patients. No meaningful correlations with clinical variables emerged. Conclusion: Our results indicate that a dysfunction of the neurosteroid system might be operative in BPD in spite of unchanged DBI plasma levels and that DHEA-S might represent a generalized trait marker for the altered stress response that is associated with this disorder.
- Published
- 2014