Basal ganglia MR relaxometry in obsessive-compulsive disorder: T2 depends upon age of symptom onset.
Dysfunction in circuits linking frontal cortex and basal ganglia (BG) is strongly implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). On MRI studies, neuropsychiatric disorders with known BG pathology have abnormally short T2 relaxation values (a putative biomarker of elevated iron) in this region. We asked if BG T2 values are abnormal in OCD. We measured volume and T2 and T1 relaxation rates in BG of 32 adults with OCD and 33 matched controls. There were no group differences in volume or T1 values in caudate, putamen, or globus pallidus (GP). The OCD group had lower T2 values (suggesting higher iron content) in the right GP, with a trend in the same direction for the left GP. This effect was driven by patients whose OCD symptoms began from around adolescence to early adulthood. The results suggest a possible relationship between age of OCD onset and iron deposition in the basal ganglia.
Correia
Stephen
S
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Veterans Affairs Medical Center 830 Chalkstone Ave., Providence, RI 02908, USA. stephen_correia@brown.edu
Hubbard
Emily
E
Hassenstab
Jason
J
Yip
Agustin
A
Vymazal
Josef
J
Herynek
Vit
V
Giedd
Jay
J
Murphy
Dennis L
DL
Greenberg
Benjamin D
BD
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D009929:Organ Size; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology*