Brain functional connectivity during induced sadness in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is linked to emotional and cognitive abnormalities.
• Understanding brain circuitry in OCD, particularly during mood states, is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate functional brain connectivity changes in response to induced sadness in patients with OCD compared to healthy controls.
• To examine the frontolimbic circuit's role in mood regulation within the context of OCD.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used during a validated sad mood induction procedure.
• Analysis focused on functional connectivity of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in response to induced sadness.

Main Results:

• Patients with OCD showed heightened connectivity between the subgenual ACC and the ventral striatum (ventral caudate/nucleus accumbens) and hypothalamus.
• Unlike controls, OCD patients did not exhibit increased ACC connectivity with other frontal regions during sadness induction.

Conclusions:

• Induced sadness differentially modulated connectivity in the ventral striatum and ventral frontal cortex with the subgenual ACC in OCD patients.
• These findings suggest that sadness may activate a core subcortical component of the hypothesized "OCD circuit," potentially explaining symptom exacerbation during emotional distress.