Childhood sexual abuse in relation to neurobiological challenge tests in patients with borderline personality disorder and normal controls

This study examined whether abnormal responses to neurobiological challenge tests in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are related to a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). We compared patients meeting BPD criteria (n = 24), with and without histories of CSA, with normal controls (n = 12) on the results of challenges with meta-chlorphenylpiperazine (m-CPP), pyridostigmine and clonidine. No differences were found between abused and non-abused patients with BPD. These results do not support the hypothesis that CSA is directly related to neurobiological abnormalities in BPD.