title: Response-inhibition deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an indicator of dysfunction in frontostriatal circuits.
abstract: Abnormalities in the orbital prefrontal cortex and its ventral striatal target fields are believed to be involved in causing obsessive and compulsive symptoms. Lesions to this brain circuitry result in a selective disturbance in suppressing responses to irrelevant stimuli. This disturbance might underlie the apparent inhibitory deficit suggested by the symptomatology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Oculomotor tests were administered to 12 medication-free, nondepressed patients with OCD aged 18 to 44 y and 12 matched healthy controls to assess the ability to suppress responses and to execute delayed responses volitionally. Patients with OCD had more response-suppression failures than controls when peripheral visual targets were presented close to central fixation. No significant case-control differences were observed on the delayed-response task. A basic disturbance of neurobehavioral inhibition in OCD may underlie the repetitive behavior that characterizes the illness and be related to abnormalities in orbital prefrontal ventral striatal circuits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA. Drosen@med.wayne.edu
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: O'Hearn
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sweeney
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009802:Oculomotor Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012438:Saccades