Cereb Cortex Peng Ziwen/Chen Qi's group reveals the multimodal neuroimaging features of compulsive behavior acquisition

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Wang Sizhen Written by Xu Chuanyong, Peng Ziwen, Chen Qi edited by Wang Sizhen Human behavior acquisition requires goal-oriented and habit-behavior learning system participation, collaboration, goals Orientation is planned and forward-looking, making a new dish later than today, and the habit is automated and retrospective, such as making a dish that is often made)
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Studies on animals, brain damage, and neuroimaging have shown that goal-oriented behavioral learning systems (Goal-directed behaviour learning system) is mainly related to the activities of the dorsal medial striatum/caudate nucleus (caudate), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and other brain areas; the habitual behaviour learning system (habitual behaviour learning system) is mainly It is related to the dorsolateral striatum/putamen, supplementary motor cortex (SMA), etc.
[1]
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Once the two systems cooperate abnormally and become out of balance, it may lead to a series of pathological behaviors such as obsessive-compulsive and stereotyped repetitive behaviors, which are closely related to the pathological mechanism of obsessive-compulsive disorder [2]
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 The high incidence (2-3%) and disability characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) seriously affect the life and work of patients, and cause social concern
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However, its pathological mechanism is not very clear
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Due to the repetitive and rigid behavior of OCD patients, researchers gradually regard their behavior as an excessive habituation behavior, which is related to the imbalance between the goal-oriented-habitual behavior learning system [3]
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Although most previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have found that the dual system imbalance of OCD patients is mainly manifested as the defect of the goal-oriented system, they have not directly explored the relationship between the dual systems and neglected to look at the changes in the brain function and structure of the dual systems at the same time
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In addition, stress, as an important stimulating factor of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, can affect patients’ dependence on goal-oriented or habit systems in the process of behavioral learning, and the activation of corresponding brain regions [4,5].
Exploring the impact of stress at the structural level
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 In response to these problems, Peng Ziwen’s research group from the School of Psychology, South China Normal University recently published an article titled "Imbalance in Functional and Structural Connectivity Underlying Goal-directed and Habitual Learning Systems in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" in Cerebral Cortex, explaining Abnormal characteristics of the goal-oriented-habitual behavior learning system related to obsessive-compulsive behavior acquisition in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
It is found that there are abnormalities in the brain function and structural connection between the goal-oriented system and the goal-oriented-habit system in OCD patients, and it interacts with corticotropin Affect the patient's symptoms
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Associate Professor Peng Ziwen and Professor Chen Qi are the co-corresponding authors of this article.
Xu Chuanyong (Shenzhen Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Children's Psychology and Rehabilitation Department) has graduated, and Hou Gangqiang, director of the Mental Imaging Center of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, are the co-first authors of the paper
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 In the past, researchers believed that the acquisition of compulsive behavior in OCD patients was related to the imbalance of the goal-oriented-habit system, which was mainly manifested as the damage of the goal-oriented system [2]
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However, some subsequent researchers believe that previous studies looked at the changes of the dual system in a relatively isolated manner, and further proposed that the interaction of the dual system needs to be further considered [6]
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On this basis, the author of this article further hypothesized that the imbalance of the dual system is not only related to the defect of the goal-oriented system, but also related to the abnormal interaction between the goal-oriented and habitual system
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Taking obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and healthy control subjects as the research objects, the subjects' resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), T1 structure image, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) multimodal data were collected
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And extract adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the patient's blood sample as an indicator of the patient's stress level
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In the analysis process, the target-oriented, habit-behavior-related brain areas often reported in the literature are used as areas of interest to construct the function and white matter structure of the goal-oriented system/sub-network, habitual system/sub-network, goal-oriented and habitual system Connect and compare between groups (Figure 1)
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Then further analyze the relationship between changes in brain network connection and patients' obsessive-compulsive symptoms and ACTH
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Figure 1 Data analysis flow chart (Source: Xu et al.
, Cereb Cortex, 2021) The results found: (1) At the network connection level, OCD patients are mainly goal-oriented at both the functional and structural levels- The connections between the habitual sub-networks and within the goal-oriented sub-networks are lower than those in the healthy control group
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(2) At the overall network level, the average functional connection strength between the goal-oriented-habit sub-network of OCD patients is lower than that of the control group, and the average structural connection strength within the patient’s goal-oriented sub-network is lower
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(3) In terms of function-structure coupling, the coupling coefficient in the goal-oriented sub-network of OCD patients is lower than that in the control group
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This part of the results together shows that the imbalance of the OCD dual system involves not only the functional and structural connection defects in the goal-oriented system, but also the abnormal functional and structural connections between the goal-oriented and habitual systems; the abnormal connections mainly involve OFC, dmPFC, IFG, Brain areas such as vlPFC and SMA (Figure 2)
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Figure 2 The results of network connection strength analysis (Source: Xu et al.
, Cereb Cortex, 2021) The author further analyzed the relationship between brain network connection and symptoms and stress hormones and found: (1) Functional network connection strength and obsessive thinking in OCD patients Symptoms have a positive relationship, among which the habitual sub-network has the largest weight; while the white matter structure network has a positive relationship with the obsessive-compulsive behavior symptoms, in which the goal-oriented sub-network has the largest weight
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(2) The ACTH level of OCD patients can significantly adjust the relationship between the structural connection strength of the goal-oriented sub-network and compulsive behavior, and the direction of this relationship is opposite in patients with high and low ACTH
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Therefore, the researchers speculate that the protective effect of the goal-oriented system on the symptoms of OCD patients (the stronger the connection, the milder the symptoms), may be destroyed under high stress levels (Figure 3)
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Figure 3 A model diagram of the relationship between ACTH regulating network connection strength and symptoms (Source: Xu et al.
, Cereb Cortex, 2021; Wemm & Sinha, Neurobiol Stress, 2019[7]) Conclusion and discussion of the article, inspiration and prospects of this research for the first time This paper systematically explores the multimodal neuroimaging features related to the dual learning system of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and its relationship with the level of obsessive-compulsive behavior symptoms and stress levels
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It is also a further deepening of previous studies on the acquisition mechanism of obsessive behavior in OCD patients
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 First, at the theoretical level: (1) Previous studies have focused on the results of the imbalance of the dual systems of OCD patients, and looked at the specific changes in each behavioral learning system of patients in a relatively isolated manner
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This study further investigated the functional and structural connection changes between the two systems, and found that the abnormal connection between systems may also be an important aspect of the neural mechanism of obsessive behavior acquisition in OCD patients, enriching the previous theoretical research on the mechanism of obsessive behavior acquisition
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(2) This study further analyzed the characteristics of the two core symptoms of OCD patients: obsessive thinking, compulsive behavior and the relationship between dual system functions and structural connections, to a certain extent, provided empirical evidence for the habitual behavior model of obsessive-compulsive disorder [3]
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(3) Since stress factors are often considered to be an intensifying factor of OCD symptoms, but the specific mechanism of stress is still unclear, this study uses stress as a modulator of the relationship between OCD symptoms and the brain network of OCD patients.
A preliminary exploration of the mechanism of stress affecting the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder
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 Secondly, at the practical level, with the development of cognitive neuroscience and medical imaging technology, it has become possible to help accurately diagnose psychiatric diseases based on neuroimaging
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How to find specific neuroimaging markers for OCD patients to help the clinical diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder is an urgent problem to be solved
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This study combines the symptoms of OCD patients (behavioral level), multi-modal neuroimaging technology (neural level), and stress-related physiological indicators (biochemical level) to analyze, and correlate the multi-level factors related to obsessive-compulsive disorder for the future Clinical application research provides new ideas
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Original link: https://doi.
org/10.
1093/cercor/bhab441 Associate Professor Peng Ziwen and Professor Chen Qi from the School of Psychology, South China Normal University, are the co-corresponding authors of this article, Xu Chuanyong, a researcher in the Department of Child Psychology and Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shenzhen Hou Gangqiang, director of the Mental Imaging Center of Kangning Hospital, is the co-first author of the paper
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The research is supported by the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Guangzhou Science and Technology Project
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Corresponding author of this article: Peng Ziwen (photo provided by: Peng Ziwen's research group) Selected previous articles [1] Neurosci Bull︱ Li Yunqing's research group revealed that changes in the plasticity of nerves in the anterior cingulate gyrus are related to hyperalgesia and anxiety in chronic pancreatitis [ 2] Neuron︱ Cao Peng’s laboratory discovered the closed-loop neural mechanism of repetitive stereotyped behaviors [3] EMBO Rep｜Kang Jiuhong’s research group discovered a new mechanism for lncRNA SOX1-OT to regulate human ESC neurogenesis [4] Neuron︱ Li Yulong’s laboratory developed a new type of fluorescence The probe is used to detect the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of extracellular ATP [5] Neurosci BullGuangyin Xu's research group reveals a new mechanism for targeting the combination of GATA1 and P2x7r in spinal astrocytes through DNA methylation to relieve visceral pain [6] Nat Rev Neurosci Opinion Article ︱Probabilistic Model of Alzheimer’s Disease: Modification of the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis [7] J Neurosci︱ Wan Xiaohong’s research group reveals the general and specific neural representations of the brain’s task of decision-making uncertainty [ 8] eLife︱ Huang Zhili’s research team found that the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamic nucleus regulates wakefulness and sleepiness [9] Nat Commun︱ women are more likely to drink alcohol? New discovery of neural circuit to relieve alcoholism and anxiety behaviors of men and women: paraventricular nucleus of thalamus-stria terminalis nucleus [10] Nature Comm︱Song Jianren's research group discovered new targets to promote neural circuit reconstruction after spinal cord injury.
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