title: Brain Gray Matter Abnormalities in First-Episode, Treatment-Naive Children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
abstract: Although several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have been conducted in children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the brain structural abnormalities in OCD, especially in children, are not yet well characterized. We aimed to identify gray matter (GM) abnormalities in the early stage of pediatric OCD and examine the relationship between these structural abnormalities with clinical characteristics. Examinations of 30 first-episode, treatment-naive pediatric OCD patients without any comorbidities and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) were performed with 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) following Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration using Exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL) was used to conduct voxel-wise tests for group differences in regional gray matter volume (GMV). Compared to HCs, the patient group exhibited more GMV in the bilateral putamen and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and less GMV in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). The GMV alternation in the right putamen of OCD patients was positively correlated with Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) scores, while the GMV alternation in the left IPL exhibited a trend to negatively correlate with HAM-A scores. Our current results suggest that the GM abnormalities were defined in the early stage of pediatric OCD. Moreover, these findings provided further evidence of brain GM abnormalities that are not only present in the classical fronto-striatal-thalamic circuit but also in the default mode network (DMN), which may represent the interaction of abnormally functional organization of both network in pediatric OCD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan UniversityChengdu, China; Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan UniversityChengdu, China.
authors.forename: Bochao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Xiuli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London London, UK.
authors.forename: Du
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Yingkun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan UniversityChengdu, China; School of Sociality and Psychology, Southwest University for NationalitiesChengdu, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University Clayton, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Qizhu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ning
keywords: gray matter volume; obsessive compulsive disorder; pediatrics; treatment-naive; voxel-based morphometry