Patterns of Default Mode Network Deactivation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

• Published in: Scientific reports 2017-03, Vol.7 (1), p.44468-44468, Article 44468
• Main Authors: Gonçalves, Óscar F., Soares, José Miguel, Carvalho, Sandra, Leite, Jorge, Ganho-Ávila, Ana, Fernandes-Gonçalves, Ana, Pocinho, Fernando, Carracedo, Angel, Sampaio, Adriana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 59; 59/36; 692/698/1688/64; 692/699/476/4032; Adult; Brain Mapping; Case-Control Studies; Cerebellum; Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum - physiopathology; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Deactivation; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Female; Frontal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Nerve Net - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Neuroimaging; Nodes; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnostic imaging; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - physiopathology; Occipital Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Occipital Lobe - physiopathology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Photography; Putamen; Putamen - diagnostic imaging; Putamen - physiopathology; Rest - physiology; Science; Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Temporal Lobe - physiopathology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep44468

The objective of the present study was to research the patterns of Default Mode Network (DMN) deactivation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the transition between a resting and a non-rest emotional condition. Twenty-seven participants, 15 diagnosed with OCD and 12 healthy controls (HC), underwent a functional neuroimaging paradigm in which DMN brain activation in a resting condition was contrasted with activity during a non-rest condition consisting in the presentation of emotionally pleasant and unpleasant images. Results showed that HC, when compared with OCD, had a significant deactivation in two anterior nodes of the DMN (medial frontal and superior frontal) in the non-rest pleasant stimuli condition. Additional analysis for the whole brain, contrasting the resting condition with all the non-rest conditions grouped together, showed that, compared with OCD, HC had a significantly deactivation of a widespread brain network (superior frontal, insula, middle and superior temporal, putamen, lingual, cuneus, and cerebellum). Concluding, the present study found that OCD patients had difficulties with the deactivation of DMN even when the non-rest condition includes the presentation of emotional provoking stimuli, particularly evident for images with pleasant content.