Decreased intrinsic neural timescales in obsessive compulsive disorder and two distinct subtypes revealed by heterogeneity through discriminative analysis

Abstract

Background: OCD is featured as the destruction of information storage and processing. The cognition of neurobiological and clinical heterogeneity is in suspense and poorly studied.

Methods: Ninety-nine patients and matched HCs(n = 104) were recruited and underwent resting-state functional MRI scans. We applied INT to evaluate altered local neural dynamics representing the ability of information integration. Moreover, considering OCD was a highly heterogeneous disorder, we investigated putative OCD subtypes from INT using a novel semi-supervised machine learning, named HYDRA.

Results: Compared with HCs, patients with OCD showed decreased INTs in extensive brain regions, including bilateral cerebellum and precuneus, STG/MTG and PCC, hippocampus in DMN; right IFG/MFG/SFG, SPL and bilateral angular gyrus in CEN and insula, SMA in SN. Moreover, many other regions involved in visual processing also had disrupted dynamics of local neural organization, consisting of bilateral CUN, LING and fusiform gyrus and occipital lobe. HYDRA divided patients into two distinct neuroanatomical subtypes from INT. Subtype 1 showed decreased INTs in distributed networks, while subtype 2 presented increased in several common regions which were also found to be decreased in subtype 1, such as STG, IPL, postcentral gyrus and left insula, supramarginal gyrus.

Conclusion: This study showed distinct abnormalities from the perspective of dynamics of local neural organization in OCD. Such alteration and dimensional approach may provide a new insight into the prior traditional cognition of this disorder and to some extent do favor of more precise diagnosis and treatment response in the future.

Keywords: Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Heterogeneity through discriminative analysis; Intrinsic neural timescales; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Subtypes.