The brain network mechanism of neuromodulation surgery in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder

A few days ago, Wang Zheng’s laboratory, a researcher at Peking University’s School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University McGovern Institute for Brain Sciences, and Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences, published an online publication titled " Common and differential connectivity profiles " in the international academic journal Molecular Psychiatry .

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious chronic mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 2%-3%.

For these patients with refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder, surgical treatment is considered the ultimate salvation

In response to the above problems, Wang Zheng’s laboratory collected the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging data of 215 subjects, including 104 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and 82 healthy controls, of which 27 patients with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder received surgical treatment and were postoperatively MRI scans were also performed; 15 healthy controls and 14 obsessive-compulsive disorder patients receiving DBS treatment provided by the collaborators of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands

Figure 1: Two brain network regulation modes of neuromodulation surgery

In the early stage, Wang Zheng’s team used graph theory to publish a series of results of brain network function analysis ( Biol Psychiatry , 2016; Cereb Cortex , 2018).

So, can the network communication intensity of the regulated loop be used as an imaging diagnostic index for selecting surgical treatment methods before surgery? If it is feasible, which target brain area is it? The researchers then performed a linear modeling of the preoperative network communication intensity for each brain area: network communication intensity ~ treatment method + treatment result + treatment method × treatment result, where the treatment method is DBS or destructive surgery, and the treatment effect is the clinical symptom score Changes before and after surgery

Figure 2: Neuromodulation surgery targets to change the network communication strength between the cortex and the subcortex and between the cortex and the cortex

In summary, this study found the brain network regulation effect shared by the two different neuromodulation surgeries: DBS and Mutilation: weakening the cortex-subcortical network communication while enhancing the cortex-cortical network communication

Chen Xiaoyu, a doctoral student at the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligent Technology (Institute of Neuroscience) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wang Zhen, director of the Shanghai Mental Health Center , are the co-first authors of the article, and Wang Zheng is the only corresponding author