Short communication: Diffusion tensor anisotropy in the cingulate in borderline and schizotypal personality disorder

•Compared with healthy controls, patients with borderline personality disorder had significantly lower white matter fractional anisotropy in a segment of the posterior cingulate (approximately BA 23).•Cingulate white matter volume was significantly smaller in patients with borderline personality disorder compared with healthy controls.•Cingulate white matter volume was significantly smaller in patients with schizotypal personality disorder compared with healthy controls.•These findings in regions of the cingulate involved in error monitoring provide support for the use of clinical interventions in BPD that help promote self-monitoring, new learning, and the motivation to make adaptive change in cognition and behavior. Despite considerable phenomentological differences between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), research increasingly provides evidence that some BPD symptoms overlap with SPD symptoms (e.g., disturbed cognitions). We examined the cingulate, a brain region implicated in the pathophysiology of both disorders, to determine similarities/differences between the groups, and similarities/differences from healthy controls (HC's). 3T structural and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in BPD (n = 27), SPD (n = 32), HC's (n = 34). Results revealed that BPD patients exhibited significantly lower FA in posterior cingulate white matter compared to HC's (p = 0.04), but SPD patients did not.