title: Brain activation in paediatric obsessive compulsive disorder during tasks of inhibitory control.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PO 46), Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. k.rubia@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woolley
authors.forename: Isobel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heyman
authors.forename: Mick
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brammer
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Frampton
authors.forename: Philip K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.forename: Katya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rubia
mesh_terms: 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*