Functional and structural connectivity of the amygdala in obsessive-compulsive disorder
Oana Georgiana Rus1, Tim Jonas Reess1, Gerd Wagner2
1Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaningerstrasse 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center (TUM-NIC) of Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München TUM, Ismaninger Strasse 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences GSN, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Biocenter, Groβhaderner Strasse 2, 82152 Munich, Germany.
Background:
The amygdala is known to be involved in anxiety processing, but its role in the psychopathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is still unclear.
Aims:
In this MRI study we investigated potential alterations in structural and functional connectivity of the amygdala in 42 adult patients with OCD and 37 healthy subjects.
Method:
Psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to explore amygdala functional connectivity during a negative affective task. Probabilistic tractography was then employed to study structural connectivity and integrity of underlying white matter fiber tracts.
Results:
Compared to controls, OCD patients showed a significantly increased functional connectivity of the left amygdala with mostly parieto-occipital regions during task. No structural connectivity differences could be found between the groups. In addition, only patients showed a significant association between functional and structural connectivity of these regions. Moreover, symptom severity was negatively associated with structural integrity of the underlying white matter tracts.
Conclusions:
Present results emphasize the relevance of the amygdala for OCD and may reflect that neuronal alterations in structural connectivity could be associated with functional connectivity alterations in broader networks.
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