Reduced levels of the endocannabinoid arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) in hair in patients with borderline personality disorder – a pilot study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics and hair endocannabinoid and cortisol concentrations (mean/SD).

	BPD	HC
	(n = 15)	(n = 16)	p value
Age	25.7 (6.2)	26.5 (5.7)	.85
BMI	24.9 (4.7)	25.4 (5.9)	.80
Smoking (y/n)	12/3	9/7	.15
Beck depression inventory	27.3 (13.4)	3.9 (3.2)	<.001
PDS total score	14.9 (14.8)	–
CTQ total score^a	61.6 (17.3)	35.1 (11.3)	<.001
Hair hormones
Hair weight (mg)	6.3 (2.0)	7.1 (1.1)	.18
AEA (pg/mg)^b	0.4 (0.3)	0.9 (1.0)	.09
log AEA	−1.01 (0.6)	−0.4 (0.8)	.03
1-AG/2-AG (pg/mg)	101.2 (103)	144.7 (143)	.34
log 1-AG/2-AG	4.2 (0.9)	4.7 (0.7)	.12
Cortisol (pg/mg)^c	4.0 (2.3)	3.2 (2.1)	.36
log cortisol	1.2 (0.7)	0.9 (0.8)	.34

^a Two control women did not fill out the CTQ.

^b Data for one BPD patient and one control women were missing.

^c Data for one BPD patient was missing.

Figure 1. (a) Hair AEA values (pg/mg) in healthy females and BPD patients (data are presented as mean and standard deviations); (b) correlation (r = −0.36, p = .059) between log AEA and cortisol: white circles = controls, black circles = BPD patients.