Inverse relationship between thalamic and orbitofrontal volumes in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. 2009-06-01; 33(4): 682-687
DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.03.011
Read on PubMed
1. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Jun 15;33(4):682-7. doi:
10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.03.011. Epub 2009 Mar 21.
Inverse relationship between thalamic and orbitofrontal volumes in
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Rotge JY(1), Dilharreguy B, Aouizerate B, Martin-Guehl C, Guehl D, Jaafari N,
Langbour N, Bioulac B, Tignol J, Allard M, Burbaud P.
Author information:
(1)Laboratoire Mouvement Adaptation Cognition, Centre National de Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche 5227, Université Bordeaux 2, 146
rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux, France.
Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) have reported a smaller volume of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
and a larger volume of the thalamus compared with healthy controls. Both of
these brain regions are strongly connected; therefore, it may be hypothesized
that cortical and thalamic alterations are related. Here, we investigated the
relationship between thalamic and orbitofrontal volumes in OCD patients relative
to healthy controls. MRI volumetric measurements of the thalamus and the OFC
were obtained in 16 OCD patients without comorbidity and 16 comparison subjects
matched for age, sex and educational level. Partial correlation analyses that
controlled for intracranial volume (ICV) were performed to explore relationships
between thalamic and OFC volumes in each group. In order to assess the
specificity of this relationship, we conducted similar analyses of the anterior
cingulate cortex (ACC) as a non-OFC cortical volume. Finally, by using data from
previously published volumetric MRI studies, we conducted a meta-regression to
explore the relationships between volume changes in these regions of interest.
Results showed that thalamic volumes were significantly negatively correlated
with OFC volumes in OCD patients (r=-0.83, p