title: Brain corticostriatal systems and the major clinical symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Functional neuroimaging studies have provided consistent support for the idea that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with disturbances of brain corticostriatal systems. However, in general, these studies have not sought to account for the disorder's prominent clinical heterogeneity.
  
  
  METHODS
  To address these concerns, we investigated the influence of major OCD symptom dimensions on brain corticostriatal functional systems in a large sample of OCD patients (n = 74) and control participants (n = 74) examined with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We employed a valid method for mapping ventral and dorsal striatal functional connectivity, which supported both standard group comparisons and linear regression analyses with patients' scores on the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consistent with past findings, patients demonstrated a common connectivity alteration involving the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex that predicted overall illness severity levels. This common alteration was independent of the effect of particular symptom dimensions. Instead, we observed distinct anatomical relationships between the severity of symptom dimensions and striatal functional connectivity. Aggression symptoms modulated connectivity between the ventral striatum, amygdala, and ventromedial frontal cortex, while sexual/religious symptoms had a specific influence on ventral striatal-insular connectivity. Hoarding modulated the strength of ventral and dorsal striatal connectivity with distributed frontal regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, these results suggest that pathophysiological changes among orbitofrontal-striatal regions may be common to all forms of OCD. They suggest that a further examination of certain dimensional relationships will also be relevant for advancing current neurobiological models of the disorder.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne & Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia. habj@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Ben J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pujol
authors.forename: Narcis
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cardoner
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deus
authors.forename: Pino
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Solà
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Contreras-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Real
authors.forename: Cinto
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Segalàs
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Blanco-Hinojo
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Menchon
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Soriano-Mas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology