Spontaneous neural activity in the right fusiform gyrus and putamen is associated with consummatory anhedonia in obsessive compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence indicated that anhedonia as a transdiagnostic construct might be an inherent feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD). Moreover, our recent study demonstrated that OCD patients exhibited consummatory anhedonia but not anticipatory anhedonia. However, neural mechanisms of consummatory anhedonia in OCD has not been explored. This study aimed to investigate this issue using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

METHODS

44 OCD patients with high consummatory anhedonia(OCD-HCA), 41 OCD patients with low consummatory anhedonia(OCD-LCA) and 47 healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI scan. Spontaneous neural activity was analyzed and compared among the three groups by adopting the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Relationships between the consummatory anhedonia levels and regional ALFFs were examined in OCD patients.

RESULTS

Compared with HC, OCD-HCA showed decreased ALFF in the right putamen and right thalamus, and OCD-LCA showed increased ALFF in the right orbitofrontal cortex and decreased ALFF in the right fusiform gyrus, left Precentral/postcentral gyrus. Notably, ALFF values differed between the two patient groups in the right putamen (OCD-HCA < OCD-LCA), and right fusiform gyrus (OCD-HCA > OCD-LCA). Further analysis revealed that the consummatory anhedonia was positively correlated with ALFF values in the right fusiform, and negatively correlated with ALFFs in the right putamen.

CONCLUSIONS

Spontaneous neural activity in right fusiform gyrus and right putamen is associated with consummatory anhedonia in OCD. The findings provided first insights into neural mechanism of consummatory anhedonia in OCD and confirmed the importance of exploring the transdiagnostic role of anhedonia.