A) Silhouette Values for Each Number of Subtypes. B) Gray matter morphological abnormalities of the identified subtypes. Credit: Translational psychiatry (2025). Doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03226-5
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder with persistence, intrusive thoughts (IE, obsessions), Accompanaed by Repethirs (IE, Compulsion Cing the anxiety arising from obsessions. Past studies have showed that people diagnosed with OCD can present symptoms that vary significantly, as well as distinct brain abnormalities.
A Team of Researchers at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University recently carried out Their findings, Published in Translational psychiatryAllowed them to identify two broad Ocd subtypes, which are associateed with different patterns in gray matter Volumes and Disease EPICENENENTERS.
“Ocd is a highly heteroeogenous disorder, with notable variations among cases in structural brain abnormalities,” Wrote baohong wen, keke fang and their colleagues in his paper. “To address this heteroegeneity, our study aimed to delyneate ocd subtypes based on individualized gray matter matter morphological differences.”
The Researchers Recruited 100 Individuals Who Had Just Been Diagnosed with OCD for the First Time and Had Not Yet Started treatment, Along with 106 Healthy Individuals Who Received No Psychiatric and Medical Digenos. They then used magnetic resonance imaging (mRI) to Collect to Collect Structural Imaging Scans of all the participants’ brains.
“Utilizing Normative Models of Gray Matter Volume, We Identified Subypes Based on Individual Morphological Morphological Abnormalities,” Wrote Wen, Fang and their colleagues. “Sensitivity analyses was conducted to validate the reproducibility of clustering outcomes. Types, we have investigated their association with normal brain network Architecture and the distribution of neurotransmitter receptors/transporters. “
Essentially, The Researchers Analyzed The Brain Scans Collected from People Diagnosed with OCD, Comparing Them to Thos to Thos of Healthy Individuals and then those who were also attoed with once This allowed them to identify two distinct Ocd subtypes characterized by distinct structural brain abnormalities, which were confirmed by Follow-Sensitivity Analyses.
“Subtype 1 Displayed Significantly Increased Gray Matter Volume in Regents Including The Frontal Gyrus, Precuneus, Insula, Hippocampus, Parahipocampus, Parahipocampal Gyrus, Amygdala YPE 2 exhibited decreased gray matter Volume in the frontal gyrus, precuneus, insula, superir parietal Gyrus, temporal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus, “Wrote the Researchers. “When Considering All Patients Collexi, Structural Brain Abnormalities Nullified.”
The two Ocd subtypes uncovered by wen, fang and their colleagues are characterized by distinct patterns in gray matter Volmes within specific brain regions. People in subtype 1 presented more gray matter in brain area is supporting decision-making (eg, the frontal gyrus) and emotional processing (Ie, the amygdala).
Ingtrast, these in subtype 2 was found to present lower gray matter Volumes in area linked to self-refrentiial Thinking (IE, the Precuneus) and Coganitive Function (Ie, the Striatum).
Notably, the newly unveiled subtypes was also found to be associateed with different Disease Epicenters and Distinct Links to Neurotransmitter receptors in the brinth. This essentially means that the brain regions and receptors most affected by or implicated in the disorder also differently significly between the two subtypes.
“Subtype 1 Showed Disease Epicengers in the Middle Frontal Gyrus, while Subtype 2 Displayed Disease EPICESE EPICETERS in the Striatum, Thalamus and Hippocampus,” Wrote the Researches. “Furthermore, Structural Brain Abnormalities in these subtypes displayed distinct assoctions with neurotransmitter receptors/transporters.”
The Findings of this Recent Study Could Help to Partialy ExPLAIN The Differences Between Patients Diagnosed with OCD that have often been being observed in the past. In the future, they could pay for additional research focusing on the two newly identified disorder subypes, which could be in turp to devise perceonalized therope Aating Ocd.
More information:
Baohong wen et al, individualized gray matter Morphological abnormalities unveil two neuroanatomical obsessive-compulsive disorder subtypes, Translational psychiatry (2025). Doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03226-5
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Citation: Gray matter study uncovers two neuroanatomically different OCD Subtypes (2025, February 5) retrieved 5 February 2025 from
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