Search

Background: Childhood trauma is a vulnerability factor for the development of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Empirical findings suggest that trauma-related alterations in brain networks, especially in thalamus-related regions, have been observed in OCD patients. However, the relationship between childhood trauma and thalamic connectivity in patients with OCD remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine the impact of childhood trauma on thalamic functional connectivity in OCD patients. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging resting-state scans were acquired in 79 patients with OCD, including 22 patients with a high level of childhood trauma (OCD_HCT), 57 patients with a low level of childhood trauma (OCD_LCT) and 47 healthy controls. Seven thalamic subdivisions were chosen as regions of interest (ROIs) to examine the group difference in thalamic ROIs and whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). Results: We found significantly decreased caudate-thalamic rsFC in OCD patients as a whole group and also in OCD_LCT patients, compared with healthy controls. However, OCD_HCT patients exhibited increased thalamic rsFC with the prefrontal cortex when compared with both OCD_LCT patients and healthy controls. Conclusions: Taken together, OCD patients with high and low levels of childhood trauma exhibit different pathological alterations in thalamic rsFC, suggesting that childhood trauma may be a predisposing factor for some OCD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological and clinical gender differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been reported; however, gender differences in brain functional connectivity and the relationship between resting brain functional imaging and clinical symptoms has not been studied in OCD. A total of 62 drug-naive patients with OCD (31 males, 31 females) and 60 healthy controls (HCs) (30 males, 30 females) matched for age, sex, and education underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) over the whole brain and seed-based connectivity analyses were evaluated to examine the intrinsic cerebral activity of the subjects. Additionally, associations between functional connectivity and clinical features were analysed. Compared to male OCD (mOCD) patients, female OCD (fOCD) patients showed higher ALFF values in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Compared to HCs, fOCD patients showed significantly decreased functional connectivity between the right parahippocampal gyrus and whole brain to the right posterior central gyrus/precentral gyrus/superior temporal gyrus/barycentric lobule and left anterior cuneus. Abnormal functional connectivity was negatively correlated with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory total scores. Our results suggest that the right parahippocampal gyrus, which is related to executive control and emotional regulation, may show gender differences in OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Convergent evidence has demonstrated that trait impulsivity, a key feature in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), involves dysregulated frontal-striatal circuits. The present study aims to explore relationships between frontal-striatal circuits, trait impulsivity, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.Methods: Thirty-six unmedicated patients with OCD and 50 healthy controls (HCs) matched for age, sex, and years of education underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure. Voxel-wise statistical parametric analysis was used to investigate the differences in resting-state functional connectivity between brain regions functionally connected to six pairs of a-priori defined striatal seed regions, between patients with OCD and HCs. Associations between frontal-striatal connectivity and both trait impulsivity and symptom severity of OCD were analyzed.Results: The results showed altered striatal functional connectivity in OCD group compared to HCs, including increased connectivity of dorsal caudate (DC)-orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), ventral striatum (VS)-OFC, VS-medial prefrontal cortex, and putamen-sensorimotor area, and decreased functional connectivity of DC-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), putamen-ACC, and putamen-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Furthermore, the putamen-DLPFC connectivity was negatively correlated with attentional impulsivity in the OCD group, but showed a positive correlation in HCs.Conclusions: The present findings suggested that dorsal cognitive circuits could reflect the level of inhibitory control, which is balanced with the impulsive drive in healthy controls, but breakdown in OCD. Our findings supported that DLPFC-putamen connectivity underlying trait impulsivity, which were involved in the pathophysiology of OCD. The findings have provided new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms of OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]