title: Inferior frontal gyrus white matter abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: The aim of the present study is to explore obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-related abnormalities in white matter connectivity in OCD for a core region associated with inhibitory control [i.e. inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)]. Fifteen patients with OCD (11 men) and 15 healthy controls (nine men) underwent diffusion tensor imaging scanning to study four diffusivity indexes of white matter integrity [fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity (RD)]. The results showed that persons with OCD manifested significantly lower fractional anisotropy levels in the bilateral IFG as well as its parcellations in the pars opercularis, pars triangularis, and pars orbitalis. Significantly higher levels of MD, RD were evident for the OCD group in the IFG as a whole as well as in the bilateral subregions of the pars triangularis and pars opercularis (for MD and RD), the right side of the pars orbitalis (for RD), and the left side of the pars triangularis and right side pars opercularis (for axial diffusivity). Overall, the results suggest significant alterations in structural connectivity, probably associated with myelination and axonal abnormalities in the IFG of OCD patients.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding Center of Neuromodulation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School bBouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA cNeuropsychophysiology Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga dCUF Porto Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Porto eDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Coimbra Hospitals, Coimbra, Portugal fForensic Genetics Unit, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Óscar F
authors.initials: ÓF
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Sónia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganho
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandes-Gonçalves
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pocinho
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carracedo
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sampaio
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*