Shi Wenqing, Tian Ya, Yang Huiting, Guo Huirong, Wen Baohong, Liu Zijun, Zhang Yong, Han Shaoqiang, Cheng Jingliang
Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Feb 21;16:1529983. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1529983. eCollection 2025.
As a crucial node of the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) loop, the striatum has long been considered to be involved in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Numerous neuroimaging studies have reported functional abnormalities of the striatum in OCD. However, altered dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) patterns of striatal subregions were rarely reported in patients with OCD.
We collected resting-state functional MRI data from 97 first episode and drug-naïve OCD patients and 106 HCs matched for gender and age. Seed-based whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and DFC analysis were performed for 12 striatal subregions. Between-group differences of the mean RSFC and DFC were determined using a two-sample t-test. In addition, we performed a Spearman's correlation analysis to examine the relationship between altered RSFC and DFC and the clinical characteristics of OCD.
Patients with OCD exhibited increased RSFC between the superior ventral striatum (VSs) and the calcarine (CAL), lingual gyrus (LING), cuneus (CUN), supplementary motor area (SMA), precuneus (PCUN), paracentral lobule (PCL) and superior parietal gyrus (SPG). Increased RSFC between the left dorsal caudal putamen (DCP) and LING and inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) and increased RSFC between left ventral rostral putamen (VRP) and fusiform gyrus (FFG) were also found. in OCD group. The left dorsal caudate (DC) showed increased RSFC with CAL. In addition, OCD patients shows increased RSFC between multiple striatal seeds and cerebellum. The left VSs showed decreased DFC in the OCD patients with the PCUN, SPG and superior occipital gyrus (SOG). The right DC showed decreased DFC with the medial frontal gyrus orbital part (ORBmed), superior frontal gyrus orbital part (ORBsup) and gyrus rectus (REC). OCD severity was associated with DFC values between the right DC and ORBmed (r = 0.209, p = 0.044).
Our study reveals disrupted RSFC and DFC between the striatal subregions and widespread brain regions in OCD patients. The findings highlight the role of the striatum in the neuropathology of OCD at a refined anatomical level and support the CSTC model in OCD.
作为皮质-纹状体-丘脑-皮质（CSTC）环路的关键节点，长期以来，纹状体一直被认为与强迫症（OCD）的病理生理学有关。众多神经影像学研究报告了强迫症患者纹状体的功能异常。然而，强迫症患者纹状体亚区动态功能连接（DFC）模式的改变却鲜有报道。
我们收集了97例首发且未接受过药物治疗的强迫症患者以及106名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照（HC）的静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据。对12个纹状体亚区进行基于种子点的全脑静息态功能连接（RSFC）和DFC分析。使用双样本t检验确定组间平均RSFC和DFC的差异。此外，我们进行了Spearman相关分析，以检验RSFC和DFC改变与强迫症临床特征之间的关系。
强迫症患者在腹侧上纹状体（VSs）与距状回（CAL）、舌回（LING）、楔叶（CUN）、辅助运动区（SMA）、楔前叶（PCUN）、中央旁小叶（PCL）和顶上叶（SPG）之间的RSFC增加。在强迫症组中，还发现左侧背侧尾状核后部（DCP）与LING和枕下回（IOG）之间的RSFC增加，以及左侧腹侧尾状核前部（VRP）与梭状回（FFG）之间的RSFC增加。左侧尾状核（DC）与CAL之间的RSFC增加。此外，强迫症患者多个纹状体种子点与小脑之间的RSFC增加。在患有PCUN、SPG和枕上回（SOG）的强迫症患者中，左侧VSs的DFC降低。右侧DC与眶额内侧回（ORBmed）、眶额上回（ORBsup）和直回（REC）之间的DFC降低。强迫症严重程度与右侧DC和ORBmed之间的DFC值相关（r = 0.209，p = 0.044）。
我们的研究揭示了强迫症患者纹状体亚区与广泛脑区之间的RSFC和DFC中断。这些发现突出了纹状体在强迫症神经病理学中精细解剖水平上的作用，并支持强迫症的CSTC模型。
