Altered Resting-State Brain Activity in Schizophrenia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Compared With Non-psychiatric Controls: Commonalities and Distinctions Across Disorders.

Yuyanan Zhang,Weihua Yue,Dai Zhang,Jun Yan,Xiao Zhang,Qianqian Li,Hao Yan,Jinmin Liao,Lijun Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.681701

Abstract

Backgrounds: Schizophrenia (SCZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are classified as two chronic psychiatric disorders with high comorbidity rate and shared clinical symptoms. Abnormal spontaneous brain activity within the cortical–striatal neural circuits has been observed in both disorders. However, it is unclear if the common or distinct neural abnormalities underlie the neurobiological substrates in the resting state.Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were collected from 88 patients with SCZ, 58 patients with OCD, and 72 healthy control subjects. First, we examined differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) among three groups. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis with the brain region that showed different ALFF as the seed was then conducted to identify the changes in brain networks. Finally, we examined the correlation between the altered activities and clinical symptoms.Results: Both the patients with SCZ and OCD showed increased ALFF in the right hippocampus and decreased ALFF in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). SCZ patients exhibited increased ALFF in the left caudate [voxel-level family-wise error (FWE) P < 0.05] and decreased rsFC between the left caudate and right cerebellum, which correlated with positive symptoms. The left caudate showed increased rsFC with the right thalamus and bilateral supplementary motor complex (SMC) in OCD patients (cluster-level FWE P < 0.05).Conclusions: The hippocampus and PCC are common regions presenting abnormal local spontaneous neuronal activities in both SCZ and OCD, while the abnormality of the striatum can reflect the differences. Increased ALFF in the striatum and symptom-related weakened rsFC between the caudate and cerebellum showed SCZ specificity. Enhanced rsFC between the caudate and SMC may be a key characteristic in OCD. Our research shows the similarities and differences between the two diseases from the perspective of resting-state fMRI, which provides clues to understand the disease and find methods for treatment.

Highlights

The categorical diagnoses according to the phenotypic definitions limit the discovery of a genetic association study in psychiatry [1, 2]
Written informed consent was obtained from all participants or legal guardians involved in the study
By using the significant cluster within the left caudate as a seed, we found that rsFC between the left caudate, right thalamus, right cerebellum posterior lobe, and bilateral supplementary motor complex (SMC) including the supplementary motor area (SMA), supplementary eye fields (SEFs), and pre-SMA were significantly different among the three groups

Summary

Introduction

The categorical diagnoses according to the phenotypic definitions limit the discovery of a genetic association study in psychiatry [1, 2]. We try to find out the local spontaneous brain function activity characteristics in schizophrenia (SCZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), two mental disorders with common genetic factors [8, 9] and structural brain abnormalities [10, 11]. The obsessive thoughts in both OCD and delusional ideas in SCZ involved intrusive, unwanted, and foreign thoughts, which indicated the shared failure in monitoring their own thoughts [14]. The diagnosis of OCD increases the risk of SCZ [16]. Patients with both disorders showed deficient response inhibition [17] and internal source-monitoring deficits [14]. The neurobiological substrates and the etiological relationship underlie that the tight association remains unclear

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