Brain Gray Matter Abnormalities in First-Episode, Treatment-Naive Children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Bochao Cheng,Qiyong Gong,Jianping Gong,Wu Cai,Yingkun Guo,Qizhu Wu,Xiuli Wang,Xun Yang,Gang Ning,Du Lei

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00141

Abstract

Although several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have been conducted in children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the brain structural abnormalities in OCD, especially in children, are not yet well characterized. We aimed to identify gray matter (GM) abnormalities in the early stage of pediatric OCD and examine the relationship between these structural abnormalities with clinical characteristics. Examinations of 30 first-episode, treatment-naive pediatric OCD patients without any comorbidities and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) were performed with 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) following Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration using Exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL) was used to conduct voxel-wise tests for group differences in regional gray matter volume (GMV). Compared to HCs, the patient group exhibited more GMV in the bilateral putamen and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and less GMV in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). The GMV alternation in the right putamen of OCD patients was positively correlated with Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) scores, while the GMV alternation in the left IPL exhibited a trend to negatively correlate with HAM-A scores. Our current results suggest that the GM abnormalities were defined in the early stage of pediatric OCD. Moreover, these findings provided further evidence of brain GM abnormalities that are not only present in the classical fronto–striatal–thalamic circuit but also in the default mode network (DMN), which may represent the interaction of abnormally functional organization of both network in pediatric OCD.

Highlights

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common and clinically heterogeneous mental disorder that has a lifetime prevalence rate of 2–3% in the general population (Rasmussen and Eisen, 1992)
Compared with healthy controls (HCs), our results revealed increased gray matter volume (GMV) in the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and bilateral putamen and reduced GMV in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in first-episode, treatment-naive pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients
The results support our hypothesis that gray matter (GM) abnormalities were defined in the early stage of pediatric OCD and provide further evidence of brain GM abnormalities present in the classical fronto–striatal–thalamic circuit and in the parietal cortex, which might play a supplemental role in the pathophysiology of pediatric OCD

Summary

Introduction

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common and clinically heterogeneous mental disorder that has a lifetime prevalence rate of 2–3% in the general population (Rasmussen and Eisen, 1992). The dysfunction of the frontal structures (including the orbitofrontal cortex, OFC), basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were reported to account for the principal features of OCD by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies (Rauch et al, 1994; Graybiel and Rauch, 2000; Eng et al, 2015). These studies reported considerably unified results in adult OCD, both in a resting-state (Baxter et al, 1988) and during task performance (Rauch et al, 1994)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion