Reduced levels of the endocannabinoid arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) in hair in patients with borderline personality disorder - a pilot study.
Endocannabinoids are involved in depressive and anxious symptoms and might play a role in stress-associated psychiatric disorders. While alterations in the endogenous cannabinoid system have been repeatedly found in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this system has been mostly neglected in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, there is first evidence for elevated serum levels of the endocannabinoids arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol (2-AG) in BPD patients compared to healthy controls and PTSD patients. In this study, hair endocannabinoids were analyzed, reflecting long-term endocannabinoid concentrations. We assessed AEA concentrations as well as 2-AG and the 2-AG main isomer 1-AG (1-AG/2-AG) in hair in women with BPD (n = 15) and age- and education-matched healthy women (n = 16). We found significantly reduced log AEA in BPD patients compared to healthy women (p = .03) but no differences in log 1-AG/2-AG concentrations. In addition, there was no association between 1-AG/2-AG and hair cortisol, but we found a non-significant correlation between hair concentrations of AEA and cortisol (p = .06). Our data indicate altered long-term release of endogenous cannabinoids in women with BPD depending on type of endocannabinoid. AEA has been suggested to modulate the basal activity of the endocannabinoid system and seems to attenuate depressive and anxious symptoms. Thus, chronically reduced AEA might contribute to psychiatric symptoms in BPD.
['Wingenfeld|Katja|K|', 'Dettenborn|Lucia|L|', 'Kirschbaum|Clemens|C|', 'Gao|Wei|W|', 'Otte|Christian|C|', 'Roepke|Stefan|S|']
D000328:Adult D001095:Arachidonic Acids D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder D063388:Endocannabinoids D005260:Female D005989:Glycerides D006197:Hair D006801:Humans D006854:Hydrocortisone D010865:Pilot Projects D053284:Polyunsaturated Alkamides D055815:Young Adult
Borderline personality disorder endogenous cannabinoids stress cortisol hair 1-AG hair AEA