Ayyildiz Behcet, Rodriguez-Manrique Daniela, Ayyildiz Sevilay, Colak Tuncay, Koch Kathrin
Graduate School of Health Sciences, Anatomy PhD Program, https://ror.org/0411seq30Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
School of Medicine, Department of Neuroradiology, https://ror.org/02kkvpp62Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Psychol Med. 2025 Jul 21;55:e206. doi: 10.1017/S0033291725100998.
Previous research has highlighted abnormalities in the pulvinar region of the brain among individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, given the pulvinar's complex structure, comprising four distinct subnuclei (PuA, PuI, PuL, and PuM), inconsistencies persist regarding both structural and connectivity alterations within this region.
3D T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were used on a cohort consisting of 41 healthy controls and 51 individuals with OCD in order to compare pulvinar connectivity and gray matter volume. Our aim was to compare both connectivity patterns and gray matter volume (GMV) within the PuA, PuI, PuL, and PuM subnuclei between the two groups. First, we examined resting-state connectivity differences in these subnuclei, followed by an analysis of GMV discrepancies to elucidate the potential neuropathological role of the pulvinar in OCD.
Our findings revealed significant connectivity differences in the left PuL, the right PuA, and the left PuA between OCD patients and healthy controls ( < 0.05). Furthermore, the left PuA exhibited both connectivity differences and increased GMV in the OCD group after applying multiple comparison corrections ( = 0.002).
Our study identified functional connectivity alterations within specific subnuclei, including the left and right PuA, and the left PuL, alongside GMV changes in the left PuA. These observations suggest that these distinct regions of the pulvinar may contribute to the pathophysiology of OCD through differences in both functional connectivity and GMV compared to healthy controls.
先前的研究强调了被诊断患有强迫症（OCD）的个体大脑丘脑枕区域存在异常。然而，鉴于丘脑枕结构复杂，由四个不同的亚核（PuA、PuI、PuL和PuM）组成，该区域内结构和连接性改变方面仍存在不一致之处。
对由41名健康对照者和51名强迫症患者组成的队列进行三维T1加权磁共振成像（MRI）和静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI），以比较丘脑枕的连接性和灰质体积。我们的目的是比较两组之间PuA、PuI、PuL和PuM亚核内的连接模式和灰质体积（GMV）。首先，我们检查了这些亚核的静息态连接性差异，随后分析GMV差异，以阐明丘脑枕在强迫症中的潜在神经病理学作用。
我们的研究结果显示，强迫症患者与健康对照者之间在左侧PuL、右侧PuA和左侧PuA存在显著的连接性差异（<0.05）。此外，在应用多重比较校正后，强迫症组的左侧PuA既表现出连接性差异，又出现GMV增加（=0.002）。
我们的研究确定了特定亚核内的功能连接性改变，包括左右PuA和左侧PuL，同时左侧PuA的GMV也发生了变化。这些观察结果表明，与健康对照者相比，丘脑枕的这些不同区域可能通过功能连接性和GMV的差异对强迫症的病理生理学产生影响。
