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The following is a summary of “Abnormal static and dynamic functional connectivity of striatal subregions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder,” published in the February 2025 issue of Frontiers in Psychiatry by Shi et al. 

The striatum plays a key role in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) pathophysiology within the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) loop. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study on striatal involvement in OCD. The altered dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) of its subregions remains unclear. 

They collected resting-state functional MRI data from 97 first-episode, drug-naïve patients with OCD and 106 HCs matched for gender and age. They performed seed-based whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and DFC analysis for 12 striatal subregions. They used a 2-sample t-test to determine between-group differences in mean RSFC and DFC. They conducted Spearman’s correlation analysis to assess the relationship between altered RSFC, DFC, and OCD clinical characteristics. 

The results showed increased RSFC in patients with OCD between the superior ventral striatum (VSs) and the calcarine (CAL), lingual gyrus (LING), cuneus (CUN), supplementary motor area (SMA), precuneus (PCUN), paracentral lobule (PCL) and superior parietal gyrus (SPG). Increased RSFC was also found between the left dorsal caudal putamen (DCP) and LING, inferior occipital gyrus (IOG), and between the left ventral rostral putamen (VRP) and fusiform gyrus (FFG). The left dorsal caudate (DC) showed increased RSFC with CAL. Multiple striatal seeds showed increased RSFC with the cerebellum. Decreased DFC was observed in the left VSs with PCUN, SPG, and superior occipital gyrus (SOG), and in the right DC with medial frontal gyrus orbital part (ORBmed), superior frontal gyrus orbital part (ORBsup) and gyrus rectus (REC). OCD severity correlated with DFC between the right DC and ORBmed (r = 0.209, P = 0.044). 

Investigators found disrupted RSFC and DFC between striatal subregions and widespread brain regions in patients with OCD, supporting the CSTC model. 

Source: frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1529983/full