Aberrant Salience Network Functional Connectivity in Resting-State and Fear-Related Autobiographical Memory Recall in Female Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder

: Objectives. Identity disturbance and instability in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are associated with impairments in the integration of emotional autobiographical memory (EAM). At the neurophysiological level, it has been suggested that EAM dysfunction may be linked with functional connectivity (FC) alterations of the salience network (SN). Despite this, evidence in adolescents with BPD remains scarce, especially under task-related conditions. Therefore, we investigated SN electroencephalography (EEG) FC in adolescents with BPD during the resting-state condition (RS) and during two EAM tasks (i.e., happiness- and fear-related). Methods. A total of 24 female adolescents with BPD and 15 healthy controls underwent RS and task-related EEG recording. All participants were also assessed for BPD and related clinical dimensions. EEG FC analyses in the SN were performed using exact Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (eLORETA) software. Results. Compared to controls, BPD patients exhibited reduced theta SN connectivity during RS. This hypo-connectivity pattern was positively correlated with all BPD-related dimensions (i.e., emotional dysregulation, impulsiveness, dissociative symptoms, and childhood trauma). Furthermore, compared to the RS, during the listening of fear-related memories, BPD patients showed an increase in delta SN connectivity. This hyper-connectivity pattern was negatively correlated with the self-reported vividness of recall. Conclusions. While decreased SN theta connectivity may be a common neural marker of traumatic disintegration, increased SN delta connectivity may indicate a neural correlate of suppression/avoidance of negative memories.