Functional connectivity alterations between default mode network and occipital cortex in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

European Psychiatry, vol. 64, pp. S738

Abstract

Introduction A meta-analysis by Gürsel et al. (2018) found altered functional connectivity in OCD patients within and between default mode (DMN), salience (SN), and frontoparietal networks (FPN), as well as evidence for aberrant fronto-striatal circuitry. Objectives Testing the replicability of meta-analysis rsfMRI findings in OCD patients. Methods We measured functional connectivity during resting-state fMRI in a sample of OCD patients (n=24) and controls matched for age and sex (n=33). The CONN toolbox implemented in SPM was used to perform seed-to-voxel analysis using 30 seed regions based on the previous meta-analytic findings. Results OCD patients showed reduced functional connectivity between SN and DMN compared to controls, replicating previous findings. We did not observe significant group differences of functional connectivity within the DMN, SN, or FPN. The strongest finding consisted of altered connectivity between DMN and SN to the visual network. OCD patients showed reduced functional connectivity between the left lateral parietal seed (LPl) and the inferior lateral occipital pole left (iLOCl) compared to controls. Furthermore, the LPl was found to be hyperconnected with the right superior lateral occipital cortex (sLOCr) and the right precuneus. This finding was positively correlated to OCD symptom severity, especially compulsions. Conclusions Our findings replicated partly the meta-analysis findings, specifically reduced connectivity between SN and DMN. Using seeds based on the meta-analysis, we identified aberrations between the SN and, in particular, the DMN to the visual network. This raises the question about the visual system’s involvement in OCD symptoms and the abnormal connectivity of a unimodal region to the multimodal DMN. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Authors 5

1. T. Geffen corresponding

   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

   Affiliation as printed

   Psychiatry, Charité, Berlin, Germany

2. Jonny Smallwood

   Queen's University · Queens University

   Affiliation as printed

   Queen’s University

   Psyhcology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

3. Carsten Finke

   Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

   Affiliation as printed

   Humboldt-Universität

   Berlin School Of Mind And Brain, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany

   Neurology, Charité, Berlin, Germany

4. Zsuzsika Sjoerds Aachen Institute of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University

   Institute Of Psychology - Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

   Leiden Institute For Brain & Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

5. Florian Schlagenhauf

   Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences · Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

   Affiliation as printed

   Humboldt-Universität

   Institute For Human Cognitive And Brain Sciences

   Bernstein Center For Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany

   Institute For Human Cognitive And Brain Sciences, Max-Planck, Leipzig, Germany

   Psychiatry, Charité, Berlin, Germany