Cellular and Extracellular White Matter Abnormalities in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Author(s):Show less -

Maziero, Maria Paula ^{[1, 2]} ; Seitz-Holland, Johanna ^[3] ; Cho, Kang Ik K. ^[3] ; Goldenberg, Joshua E. ^[3] ; Tanamatis, Tais W. ^[1] ; Diniz, Juliana B. ^[1] ; Cappi, Carolina ^[1] ; Mathis, Maria Alice de ^[1] ; Otaduy, Maria C. G. ^[4] ; Martin, Maria da Graca Morais ^[4] ; Silva, Renata de Melo Felipe da ^[1] ; Shavitt, Roseli G. ^[1] ; Batistuzzo, Marcelo C. ^{[1, 5]} ; Lopes, Antonio C. ^[1] ; Miguel, Euripedes C. ^[1] ; Pasternak, Ofer ^{[3, 6]} ; Hoexter, Marcelo Q. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Psiquiat, Hosp Clin, Fac Med, LIM 23, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] City Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Harvard Med Sch, Dept Psychiat, Boston, MA 02115 - USA

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Radiol, Hosp Clin, Fac Med, LIM 44, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Pontif Catholic Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Methods & Techn, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Harvard Med Sch, Brigham & Womens Hosp, Dept Radiol, Boston, MA 02115 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY-COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING; v. 6, n. 10, p. 983-991, OCT 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

BACKGROUND: While previous studies have implicated white matter (WM) as a core pathology of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), the underlying neurobiological processes remain elusive. This study used free-water (FW) imaging derived from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to identify cellular and extracellular WM abnormalities in patients with OCD compared with control subjects. Next, we investigated the association between diffusion measures and clinical variables in patients. METHODS: We collected diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and clinical data from 83 patients with OCD (56 women/27 men, age 37.7 +/- 10.6 years) and 52 control subjects (27 women/25 men, age 32.8 +/- 11.5 years). Fractional anisotropy (FA), FA of cellular tissue, and extracellular FW maps were extracted and compared between patients and control subjects using tract-based spatial statistics and voxelwise comparison in FSL Randomise. Next, we correlated these WM measures with clinical variables (age of onset and symptom severity) and compared them between patients with and without comorbidities and patients with and without psychiatric medication. RESULTS: Patients with OCD demonstrated lower FA (43.4% of the WM skeleton), lower FA of cellular tissue (31% of the WM skeleton), and higher FW (22.5% of the WM skeleton) compared with control subjects. We did not observe significant correlations between diffusion measures and clinical variables. Comorbidities and medication status did not influence diffusion measures. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings of widespread FA, FA of cellular tissue, and FW abnormalities suggest that OCD is associated with microstructural cellular and extracellular abnormalities beyond the corticostriatothalamocortical circuits. Future multimodal longitudinal studies are needed to understand better the influence of essential clinical variables across the illness trajectory. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/21357-9 - Research on neural circuits and biological markers involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder using behavioral paradigms of fear and anxiety
• Grantee: Eurípedes Constantino Miguel Filho
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 19/13157-1 - Free water imaging in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a diffusion tensor study
• Grantee: Maria Paula Maziero
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 14/50917-0 - INCT 2014: developmental psychiatry for children and adolescents
• Grantee: Eurípedes Constantino Miguel Filho
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants