Another recent, study114 demonstrated that eight patients with predominant washing symptoms showed increased neural responses

to disgusting (but not fearful) faces, compared with nonwashing OCD patients (n=8) and healthy controls (n=19). Specifically, washers showed greater activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 47) compared with the other two groups. Finally, a study by Rauch and colleagues115 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical tested for associations between OCD symptom factors and regional brain activation during an implicit learning task. They found that activation within the right, caudate was inversely correlated with the symmetry/arranging (Factor IT) and contamination/washing (Factor III) symptom dimensions; left Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical orbitofrontal activation was directly correlated with the scxual/rcligious/aggressive/counting factor (Factor I) symptom severity. Many of the most recent imaging studies have not included dimensional measures, or alternatively

they have excluded OCD cases with prominent hoarding symptoms as a means of studying a more homogeneous subgroup of cases.116,117 The variability in these studies raises the question of whether the inconsistencies in previous imaging studies of OCD could be accounted for by phenotypic variations among Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical their subjects. If these preliminary findings are confirmed, and a consistent pattern of results can be documented by symptom factor, this would suggest that, discrete neural systems are Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical activated in association with the evocation

of specific OCS. We would predict that if a dimensional approach is useful, then a significant portion of the individual variation seen in these studies may be accounted for by the unique mix of symptom dimensions seen in any given patient. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Initial studies generally support this conclusion. The pursuit of endophenotypes Neuropsychological KPT-330 in vivo testing in adults with OCD has demonstrated deficits in visuospatial skill, inhibitory control reversal learning, and less consistent deficits in cognitive set shifting and executive planning.118-124 In adults with OCD, the most exciting findings to date are those recently reported by Chamberlain et al.107 They have reported abnormally reduced activation of several cortical regions, including the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, during reversal learning in OCD patients and their clinically unaffected close relatives, supporting Ribonucleotide reductase the existence of an underlying previously undiscovered endophenotype. If this truly is a ”trait“ finding, then it will be critical to determine when these patterns first become evident, and whether or not they are associated with specific OC symptom dimensions or subtypes of disease. Neuropsychological testing data on children with OCD is comparably sparse. On the other hand, measures of intelligence in children with OCD have been fairly well studied.