AUTHOR=Jia Cuicui , Ou Yangpan , Chen Yunhui , Li Ping , Lv Dan , Yang Ru , Zhong Zhaoxi , Sun Lei , Wang Yuhua , Zhang Guangfeng , Guo Hong , Sun Zhenghai , Wang Wei , Wang Yefu , Wang Xiaoping , Guo Wenbin 

TITLE=Decreased Resting-State Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity in Medication-Free Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.559729

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2020.559729

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Objective: Decreased homotopic connectivity of brain networks such as the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuits may contribute to the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, little is known about interhemispheric functional connectivity (FC) at rest in OCD. In this study, the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method was applied to explore interhemispheric coordination at rest in OCD.
Methods: Forty medication-free patients with OCD and 38 sex-, age-, and education level-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The VMHC and support vector machine (SVM) methods were used to analyze the data.
Results: Patients with OCD had remarkably decreased VMHC values in the orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, middle occipital gyrus, and precentral and postcentral gyri compared with HCs. A combination of the VMHC values in the thalamus and postcentral gyrus could optimally distinguish patients with OCD from HCs.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the contribution of decreased interhemispheric FC within and outside the CSTC circuits in OCD and provide evidence to the pathophysiology of OCD.