@article {Subir{\`a}115, author = {Marta Subir{\`a} and Marta Cano and Stella J. de Wit and Pino Alonso and Narc{\'\i}s Cardoner and Marcelo Q. Hoexter and Jun Soo Kwon and Takashi Nakamae and Christine Lochner and Jo{\~a}o R. Sato and Wi Hoon Jung and Jin Narumoto and Dan J. Stein and Jesus Pujol and David Mataix-Cols and Dick J. Veltman and OCD Brain Imaging Consortium and Jos{\'e} M. Mench{\'o}n and Odile A. van den Heuvel and Carles Soriano-Mas}, title = {Structural covariance of neostriatal and limbic regions in patients with obsessive{\textendash}compulsive disorder}, volume = {41}, number = {2}, pages = {115--123}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.1503/jpn.150012}, publisher = {Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience}, abstract = {Background: Frontostriatal and frontoamygdalar connectivity alterations in patients with obsessive{\textendash}compulsive disorder (OCD) have been typically described in functional neuroimaging studies. However, structural covariance, or volumetric correlations across distant brain regions, also provides network-level information. Altered structural covariance has been described in patients with different psychiatric disorders, including OCD, but to our knowledge, alterations within frontostriatal and frontoamygdalar circuits have not been explored.Methods: We performed a mega-analysis pooling structural MRI scans from the Obsessive{\textendash}compulsive Brain Imaging Consortium and assessed whole-brain voxel-wise structural covariance of 4 striatal regions (dorsal and ventral caudate nucleus, and dorsal-caudal and ventral-rostral putamen) and 2 amygdalar nuclei (basolateral and centromedial-superficial). Images were preprocessed with the standard pipeline of voxel-based morphometry studies using Statistical Parametric Mapping software.Results: Our analyses involved 329 patients with OCD and 316 healthy controls. Patients showed increased structural covariance between the left ventral-rostral putamen and the left inferior frontal gyrus/frontal operculum region. This finding had a significant interaction with age; the association held only in the subgroup of older participants. Patients with OCD also showed increased structural covariance between the right centromedial-superficial amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.Limitations: This was a cross-sectional study. Because this is a multisite data set analysis, participant recruitment and image acquisition were performed in different centres. Most patients were taking medication, and treatment protocols differed across centres.Conclusion: Our results provide evidence for structural network{\textendash}level alterations in patients with OCD involving 2 frontosubcortical circuits of relevance for the disorder and indicate that structural covariance contributes to fully characterizing brain alterations in patients with psychiatric disorders.}, issn = {1180-4882}, URL = {https://www.jpn.ca/content/41/2/115}, eprint = {https://www.jpn.ca/content/41/2/115.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience} }