Resting state functional brain imaging in obsessive-compulsive disorder across genders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Radiology

Background:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibits known gender differences in epidemiology and clinical presentation.
• However, gender-specific alterations in brain functional connectivity and their correlation with symptom severity in OCD remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gender differences in resting-state brain functional connectivity in drug-naive patients with OCD.
• To explore the relationship between intrinsic brain activity, functional connectivity, and clinical symptoms in OCD patients.

Main Methods:

• Utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 62 drug-naive OCD patients (31 males, 31 females) and 60 healthy controls (HCs).
• Employed Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations (ALFF) and seed-based connectivity analyses to assess intrinsic brain activity.
• Correlated functional connectivity metrics with clinical symptom scores from the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory.

Main Results:

• Female OCD patients exhibited higher ALFF in the right parahippocampal gyrus compared to male OCD patients.
• fOCD patients showed decreased functional connectivity between the right parahippocampal gyrus and several brain regions, including the right posterior central gyrus and left anterior cuneus, compared to HCs.
• Abnormal functional connectivity was negatively correlated with OCD, depression, and anxiety symptom severity.

Conclusions:

• The right parahippocampal gyrus, implicated in executive control and emotional regulation, demonstrates gender-specific functional alterations in OCD.
• These findings highlight potential neurobiological underpinnings for observed gender differences in OCD.