Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fatty acid ethanolamide levels are altered in borderline personality and complex posttraumatic stress disorders

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Borderline personality (BPD) and complex posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) are both powerfully associated with the experience of interpersonal violence during childhood and adolescence. The disorders frequently co-occur and often result in pervasive problems in, e.g., emotion regulation and altered pain perception, where the endocannabinoid system is deeply involved. We hypothesize an endocannabinoid role in both disorders. We investigated serum levels of the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol and related fatty acid ethanolamides (FAEs) in BPD, PTSD, and controls. Significant alterations were found for both endocannabinoids in BPD and for the FAE oleoylethanolamide in PTSD suggesting a respective link to both disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  1. Alger BE, Kim J (2011) Supply and demand for endocannabinoids. Trends Neurosci 34:304–315

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bandelow B, Schmahl C, Falkai P, Wedekind D (2010) Borderline personality disorder: a dysregulation of the endogenous opioid system? Psychol Rev 117:623–636

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cutajar MC, Mullen PE, Ogloff JR, Thomas SD, Wells DL, Spataro J (2010) Psychopathology in a large cohort of sexually abused children followed up to 43 years. Child Abuse Negl 34:813–822

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Galve-Roperh I, Palazuelos J, Aguado T, Guzman M (2009) The endocannabinoid system and the regulation of neural development: potential implications in psychiatric disorders. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 259:371–382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Giuffrida A, Leweke FM, Gerth CW, Schreiber D, Koethe D, Faulhaber J, Klosterkötter J, Piomelli D (2004) Cerebrospinal anandamide levels are elevated in acute schizophrenia and are inversely correlated with psychotic symptoms. Neuropsychopharmacology 29:2108–2114

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Green JG, McLaughlin KA, Berglund PA, Gruber MJ, Sampson NA, Zaslavsky AM, Kessler RC (2010) Childhood adversities and adult psychiatric disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication i: associations with first onset of dsm-iv disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 67:113–123

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hauer D, Schelling G, Gola H, Campolongo P, Morath J, Roozendaal B, Hamuni G, Karabatsiakis A, Atsak P, Vogeser M, Kolassa IT (2013) Plasma concentrations of endocannabinoids and related primary fatty acid amides in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. PLoS ONE 8:e62741

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Jumpertz R, Guijarro A, Pratley RE, Piomelli D, Krakoff J (2011) Central and peripheral endocannabinoids and cognate acylethanolamides in humans: association with race, adiposity, and energy expenditure. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96:787–791

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kathuria S, Gaetani S, Fegley D, Valino F, Duranti A, Tontini A, Mor M, Tarzia G, La Rana G, Calignano A, Giustino A, Tattoli M, Palmery M, Cuomo V, Piomelli D (2003) Modulation of anxiety through blockade of anandamide hydrolysis. Nat Med 9:76–81

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Krause-Utz A, Schmahl C (2010) Neurobiological differentiation between borderline patients with and without post-traumatic stress disorders. Eur Psychiatr Rev 3:63–68

    Google Scholar 

  11. Leweke FM, Piomeli D, Pahlisch F, Muhl D, Gerth CW, Hoyer C, Klosterkötter J, Hellmich M, Koethe D (2012) Cannabidiol enhances anandamide signaling and alleviates psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. Transl Psychiatry 2:e94

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Lutz B (2007) The endocannabinoid system and extinction learning. Mol Neurobiol 36:92–101

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Marsicano G, Wotjak CT, Azad SC, Bisogno T, Rammes G, Cascio MG, Hermann H, Tang J, Hofmann C, Zieglgansberger W, Di Marzo V, Lutz B (2002) The endogenous cannabinoid system controls extinction of aversive memories. Nature 418:530–534

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Neumeister A, Normandin MD, Pietrzak RH, Piomelli D, Zheng MQ, Gujarro-Anton A, Potenza MN, Bailey CR, Lin SF, Najafzadeh S, Ropchan J, Henry S, Corsi-Travali S, Carson RE, Huang Y (2013) Elevated brain cannabinoid cb receptor availability in post-traumatic stress disorder: a positron emission tomography study. Mol Psychiatry 18:1034–1040

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Pardini M, Krueger F, Koenigs M, Raymont V, Hodgkinson C, Zoubak S, Goldman D, Grafman J (2012) Fatty-acid amide hydrolase polymorphisms and post-traumatic stress disorder after penetrating brain injury. Transl Psychiatry 2:e75

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Schneider P, Hannusch C, Schmahl C, Bohus M, Spanagel R, Schneider M (2013) Adolescent peer-rejection persistently alters pain perception and cb1 receptor expression in female rats. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.04.004

  17. Taber KH, Hurley RA (2009) Endocannabinoids: stress, anxiety, and fear. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 21(iv):109–113

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Köln-Fortune Program (to FML) and the German Research Foundation (to MB).

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany

    Carola Schaefer, Frank Enning, Juliane K. Mueller, J. Malte Bumb, Cathrin Rohleder, Thorsten M. Odorfer, Dagmar Koethe & F. Markus Leweke

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Carola Schaefer & Joachim Klosterkötter

  3. Institute for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Martin Hellmich

  4. Department of General Psychiatry, Medical Faculty Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Dagmar Koethe

  5. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Christian Schmahl & Martin Bohus

Authors
  1. Carola Schaefer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frank Enning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juliane K. Mueller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Malte Bumb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Cathrin Rohleder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Thorsten M. Odorfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Joachim Klosterkötter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Martin Hellmich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Dagmar Koethe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Christian Schmahl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Martin Bohus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. F. Markus Leweke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. Markus Leweke.

Additional information

Carola Schaefer, Frank Enning, and Juliane K. Mueller have contributed equally to this study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schaefer, C., Enning, F., Mueller, J.K. et al. Fatty acid ethanolamide levels are altered in borderline personality and complex posttraumatic stress disorders. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 264, 459–463 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0470-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0470-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation