Personality traits in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: Evidence of cortical abnormalities from a surface morphometry study

Cluster B personality disorders (PD), characterized as emotional instability, immaturity, lack of discipline, and rapid mood changes, have been observed among patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and have been associated with a worse seizure outcome. Proper understanding of the neurobiology of PD associated with JME could contribute to understanding the basis for earlier and more effective interventions. In the present study, volumetric and geometric features of cortical structure were assessed through an automated cortical surface reconstruction method aiming to verify possible structural cortical alterations among patients with JME. Twenty-two patients with JME with cluster B PD, 44 patients with JME without psychiatric disorders, and 23 healthy controls were submitted to a psychiatric evaluation through SCID I and SCID II and to an MRI scan. Significant cortical alterations in mesiofrontal and frontobasal regions, as well as in other limbic and paralimbic regions, were observed mainly in patients with JME with PD. The present study adds evidence to the hypothesis of frontal and limbic involvement in the pathophysiology of cluster B PD in JME, regions linked to mood and affective regulation, as well as to impulsivity and social behavior. Moreover, a multidimensional pattern of frontal, limbic, and paralimbic changes was observed through a method of structural analysis which offers different and simultaneous geometric features, allowing the elaboration of important pathophysiologic insights about cluster B PD in JME.

► Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of patients with JME and controls was analyzed. ► A surface morphometry method was utilized. ► Psychiatric evaluation was performed. ► Patients with JME with cluster B PD presented frontal and limbic changes. ► Changes in other paralimbic regions were observed.