Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39884355›Full record

ArticleBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2026

Associations of Child Amygdala Development With Borderline Personality Symptoms During Adolescence.

Anna Constantino-Pettit, Kirsten Gilbert, Kiran Boone, Katherine Luking, Benjamin Geselowitz, Rebecca Tillman, Diana Whalen, Joan Luby, Deanna M Barch, Alecia Vogel

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Anna Constantino-PettitDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Electronic address: aconstantino@wustl.edu.
Kirsten GilbertDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Kiran BooneDepartment of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
Katherine LukingDepartment of Psychology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri.
Benjamin GeselowitzDepartment of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Rebecca TillmanDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Diana WhalenDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Joan LubyDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Deanna M BarchDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Alecia VogelDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

Funding

NEUROIMAGING IN EARLY ONSET DEPRESSION: LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENT OF BRAIN CHANGESR01MH090786 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI GILBERT, KIRSTEN, WHALEN, DIANA J · 2010 to 2025
$10.4M
Developmental Neuroscience and Child PsychopathologyT32MH100019 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI Deanna Barch, JOAN L. LUBY · 2013 to 2026
$4.8M
Understanding the role of dysregulation in positive affect in developmental psychopathology.K23MH131849 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI Alecia C. Vogel · 2022 to 2026
$968k
NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH131849NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH090786NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH100019
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe current understanding of the neural correlates of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is limited, but some evidence suggests that alterations in limbic structures play a role in adult BPD. The developmental course of structural neural differences in BPD is unknown. Whether there is specificity for structural alterations in BPD compared to other psychiatric presentations, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), remains unexplored. In the current study, we examined childhood trajectories of 2 limbic regions that have been implicated in BPD, hippocampal and amygdala volume, as they relate to adolescent BPD symptoms compared to MDD symptoms.

methodsParticipants (n = 175; 85 [48.6%] female) were from a 17-year longitudinal study of preschool depression. Participants completed up to 5 magnetic resonance imaging scans from late childhood through adolescence. General linear models were used to examine the relationship between gray matter volume intercepts/slopes and BPD symptoms to understand the influence of the developmental trajectory of brain regions on BPD. Separate models were used to examine the relationship between MDD symptoms and volume intercepts to assess diagnostic specificity.

resultsLower childhood amygdala volume (intercept; age 13 centered) across scans was associated with higher adolescent BPD symptoms (β = -0.25, adjusted p = .015). There was no relationship between the slope of amygdala volume and BPD symptoms. There was no relationship between hippocampal volume and BPD or any relationship between amygdala or hippocampal volume and MDD symptoms during adolescence.

conclusionsOur findings add evidence that supports the role of alterations in amygdala structure in BPD development. Decreased amygdala volume as early as age 13 may be an early indicator of the development of BPD during adolescence.

Indexed as

AmygdalaBorderline Personality DisorderHippocampusMajor Depressive DisorderAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolFemaleGray MatterHumansLongitudinal StudiesMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleAdolescenceAmygdalaMental healthMRINeurodevelopmentPersonality disorders

Identifiers

PMID39884355
PMCPMC12301846

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.