A preliminary study of functional connectivity of medication naive children with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Background: Evidence suggests that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with a dysfunction in the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CSTC) circuitry. Resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI) allows measurements of resting state networks (RSNs), brain networks that are present at 'rest'. However, although OCD has a typical onset during childhood or adolescence, only two other studies have performed rs-fcMRI comparisons of RSNs in children and adolescents with OCD against healthy controls. Methods: In the present study, we performed resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging using a 3 Tesla MRI, in 11 medication-naive children and adolescents with OCD and 9 healthy controls. In contrast to previous studies that relied on a priori determination of RSNs, we determined resting state functional connectivity with a data-driven independent component analysis (ICA). Results: Consistent with previous reports in healthy adults, we identified 13 RSNs. Case-control un-adjusted statistical significance (p < 0.05) was found for two networks. Firstly, increased connectivity (OCD > control) in the right section of Brodmann area 43 of the auditory network; Secondly, decreased connectivity in the right section of Brodmann area 8 and Brodmann area 40 in the cingulate network. Conclusions: Our preliminary findings of case-control differences in RSNs lend further support to the CSTC hypothesis of OCD, as well as implicating other regions of the brain outside of the CSTC. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.