Abnormal striatal resting-state functional connectivity in adolescents with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Abstract

Neuroimaging research has implicated abnormalities in cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CSTC) circuitry in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) was used to investigate functional connectivity in the CSTC in adolescents with OCD. Imaging was obtained with the Human Connectome Project (HCP) scanner using newly developed pulse sequences which allow for higher spatial and temporal resolution. Fifteen adolescents with OCD and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (ages 12-19) underwent R-fMRI on the 3T HCP scanner. Twenty-four minutes of resting-state scans (two consecutive 12-minute scans) were acquired. We investigated functional connectivity of the striatum using a seed-based, whole brain approach with anatomically-defined seeds placed in the bilateral caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. Adolescents with OCD compared with controls exhibited significantly lower functional connectivity between the left putamen and a single cluster of right-sided cortical areas including the orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, and operculum. Preliminary findings suggest that impaired striatal connectivity in adolescents with OCD in part falls within the predicted CSTC network, and also involves impaired connections between a key CSTC network region (i.e., putamen) and key regions in the salience network (i.e., insula/operculum). The relevance of impaired putamen-insula/operculum connectivity in OCD is discussed.

Cortico-Striatal-Thalamic Loop Circuits of the Salience Network: A Central Pathway in Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

“…Even outside of active task engagement, nodes of the SN are abnormally hyperactive: increased resting state functional activity of the ACC, MDN (Rauch et al, 2006a; Bourne et al, 2012), dlPFC (Figee et al, 2014) and caudate nucleus (Graybiel and Rauch, 2000) has been noted in individuals with OCD. Frontostriatal functional connectivity stemming from the dlPFC (Vaghi et al, 2016), and altered striatal connectivity to the insula (Bernstein et al, 2016) has been linked to OCD severity.…”

A Neural Marker of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from Whole-Brain Functional Connectivity

“…Our biomarker was unaffected by medication status, and the functional networks contributing to the biomarker were distributed widely, including the Although previous rs-fMRI studies revealed neurobiological abnormalities in patients with OCD, the generalizability of these findings is still elusive. In fact, even for the most promising fronto-striatal circuit hypothesis, the findings have been inconsistent 15,16,[24][25][26] ; that is, the fronto-striatal circuit in OCD was hypoconnected in some studies 25,26 and hyperconnected in others 15,16,24 . Although these inconsistencies might be due to the clinical characteristics of each dataset 25,26 , other studies suggested that the fronto-striatal circuit is not the only target should be considered.…”

“…In fact, even for the most promising fronto-striatal circuit hypothesis, the findings have been inconsistent 15,16,[24][25][26] ; that is, the fronto-striatal circuit in OCD was hypoconnected in some studies 25,26 and hyperconnected in others 15,16,24 . Although these inconsistencies might be due to the clinical characteristics of each dataset 25,26 , other studies suggested that the fronto-striatal circuit is not the only target should be considered. In other words, studies have suggested that there were abnormalities in addition to those observed in the fronto-striatal circuit, including the frontoparietal and default mode networks 5,27,28 .…”

Functional neuroimaging in Tourette syndrome: recent perspectives

“…In patients with OCD, abnormalities of cortico-striatal circuits that involve the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortices, temporo-parieto-occipital areas, thalamus, and the striatum have been suggested, 81,82 as well as impaired striatal connectivity. 83 In patients with ADHD, dysfunctions in the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuits, 84 changes in cortical thickness and gyrification, 85 changes in the serotonin transporter binding potential, 86 changes in callosal thickness, 87 and reduced gray matter volumes in various regions of the brain are seen. 88,89 In addition, the severity of ADHD and OCD symptoms probably has neuroanatomical correlates.…”