Altered resting‐state functional organization within the central executive network in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Abstract

Aim: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with deficits in response inhibition and planning, which are governed by the central executive network. The objective of this study was to investigate both intra-and inter-regional restingstate connectivity within the central executive network in OCD.Methods: Thirty OCD patients and 30 matched healthy controls were scanned using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The independent component analysis was used on a separate sample of healthy controls to generate the central executive network mask for the subsequent OCD analyses. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and seedbased functional connectivity analyses were used to explore the differences between intra-and interregional synchronized activity within the central executive network in OCD patients at rest.Results: Increased ReHo and functional connectivity in the key regions of the central executive network, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the angular gyrus, were found in OCD patients. Furthermore, changes in both the ReHo within the orbitofrontal cortex and the functional connectivity between the orbitofrontal cortex and angular gyrus were negatively correlated with OCD duration. Conclusion:The increased resting-state functional organization within the central executive network may be related to OCD patients' deficits in cognitive control and symptom progression.

Functional Connectivity of the Striatum as a Neural Correlate of Symptom Severity in Patient with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…[39][40][41][42][43] Furthermore, numerous prior studies have demonstrated that patients with OCD have greater GM volume, gyrification, and metabolic rates than HCs in both the SMG/AG and the PCG. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] These previous findings corroborate our present finding that alterations in the FC of the SMG/AG and PCG are associated with the pathophysiology of OCD. However, both FC values were negatively correlated with two measures of clinical symptom severity: Y-BOCS compulsion scores and HAM-A scores.…”

Altered Global Brain Functional Connectivity in Drug-Naive Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…DLPFC and IPL are the core brain regions in the ECN, which are involved in cognitive task switching, response inhibition, and executive planning (34,35). In our previous study, high regional homogeneity in the DLPFC and IPL (peaking in angular gyrus) and increased FC between DLPFC and IPL at rest in OCD were found with a different sample (12). Decreased GFC in the DMN and increased GFC in the ECN at rest may be related to low self-awareness and focus on controlling external stimuli in patients with OCD.…”

“…Diverse studies typically generate inconsistent results (2). Furthermore, some studies have focused on the networks of interest and ignored the most crucial brain areas involved in the core pathological abnormalities in OCD (12,13,15,(28)(29)(30). By contrast, in the present research, we used a voxel-wise brain-wide method to focus on FC alterations in drug-naive patients with OCD at rest.…”

“…Considerable neuroimaging studies have observed altered FC and/or regional activity in brain regions within the DMN, ECN, and SN with inconsistent results. Increased FC and/or regional homogeneity within the DMN, ECN, and SN at rest were found through using the independent component analysis and regions of interest (ROI) seed-based FC approaches (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). By contrast, neuroimaging studies have reported decreased FC within the DMN, ECN, and SN at rest in OCD (2,(13)(14)(15).…”

Altered frontal interhemispheric and fronto‐limbic structural connectivity in unmedicated adults with obsessive‐compulsive disorder

“…Our previous findings also suggest reduced resting‐state functional connectivity within the limbic cortico‐striato‐thalamo‐cortical (CSTC) loop in unmedicated OCD compared to healthy participants (Posner et al, ). Other data suggest increased functional connectivity across frontal cortices in OCD patients, from right orbitofrontal to left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Chen et al, ). Few studies have assessed alterations in the structural connectivity of frontal cortices or fronto‐limbic circuits, and none, to our knowledge, have assessed such alterations in unmedicated individuals with OCD in the absence of comorbid psychopathology.…”