Brain activation in paediatric obsessive compulsive disorder during tasks of inhibitory control.
BACKGROUND
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be related to a dysfunction in frontostriatal pathways mediating inhibitory control. However, no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study has tested this in children.


OBJECTIVE
To test whether adolescents with OCD in partial remission would show abnormal frontostriatal brain activation during tasks of inhibition.


METHODS
Event-related fMRI was used to compare brain activation in 10 adolescent boys with OCD with that of 9 matched controls during three different tasks of inhibitory control.


RESULTS
During a 'stop' task, participants with OCD showed reduced activation in right orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia; inhibition failure elicited mesial frontal underactivation. Task switching and interference inhibition were associated with attenuated activation in frontal, temporoparietal and cerebellar regions.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary findings support the hypothesis that paediatric OCD is characterised by a dysregulation of frontostriatothalamic brain regions necessary for motor inhibition, and also demonstrate dysfunction of temporoparietal and frontocerebellar attention networks during more cognitive forms of inhibition.
Woolley
James
J
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PO 46), Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. k.rubia@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Heyman
Isobel
I
Brammer
Mick
M
Frampton
Ian
I
McGuire
Philip K
PK
Rubia
Katya
K
D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*