Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; ICVS-3Bs PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal; Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal.
Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; ICVS-3Bs PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal; Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal; Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2022 Aug 30;118:110563. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2022.110563. Epub 2022 May 13.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder that is characterized by its complex pathophysiology and heterogenous presentation. Multiple studies to date have identified a variety of factors that are involved in the development of symptoms, but little is known about how these affect brain function. In this study, we have tried to understand how stress, one of the most studied risk factors for OCD, may influence resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) by comparing resting brain activity of OCD patients with healthy control subjects, while assessing self-reported levels of perceived stress using the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10). Seventy-five OCD patients and seventy-one healthy matched control subjects were enrolled in this study, where we used a data-driven, independent component analysis approach. Our results show differences in connectivity between patients and healthy controls involving the dorsal attention (DAN) and lateral visual networks, with patients presenting increased rsFC within the DAN and decreased rsFC within the lateral visual network. Moreover, connectivity in the anterior default mode (aDMN), dorsal attention and basal ganglia networks was associated with PSS scores in OCD patients. Specifically, rsFC within the DAN and aDMN was positively correlated with PSS scores, while the opposite was observed for the basal ganglia network. This study is the first to report such association between rsFC alterations and self-reported stress levels. Our findings are relevant in the context of OCD pathophysiology given evidence of functional dysconnectivity involving the same networks in previous OCD studies and the possible involvement of these changes in the generation of obsessions.
强迫症（OCD）是一种高发的精神疾病，其特征是复杂的病理生理学和异质的表现。迄今为止，多项研究已经确定了多种与症状发展相关的因素，但对于这些因素如何影响大脑功能知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们试图通过比较强迫症患者和健康对照组的静息大脑活动，同时使用压力知觉量表-10（PSS-10）评估自我报告的感知压力水平，来了解压力这种 OCD 最常见的风险因素之一如何影响静息态功能连接（rsFC）。本研究共纳入 75 例强迫症患者和 71 名健康匹配对照者，我们采用数据驱动的独立成分分析方法。我们的结果显示，患者与健康对照组之间存在连接差异，涉及背侧注意（DAN）和外侧视觉网络，患者的 DAN 内 rsFC 增加，外侧视觉网络内 rsFC 减少。此外，强迫症患者的前默认模式（aDMN）、背侧注意和基底节网络的连接与 PSS 评分相关。具体来说，DAN 和 aDMN 内的 rsFC 与 PSS 评分呈正相关，而基底节网络则相反。这项研究首次报告了 rsFC 改变与自我报告的压力水平之间的这种关联。鉴于先前 OCD 研究中涉及相同网络的功能连接失调的证据，以及这些变化在强迫观念产生中的可能参与，我们的发现与 OCD 病理生理学有关。
