GSH-sensitive polymeric prodrug: Synthesis and loading with photosensitizers as nanoscale chemo-photodynamic anti-cancer nanomedicine

Precisely delivering combinational therapeutic agents has become a crucial challenge for anti-tumor treatment. In this study, a novel redox-responsive polymeric prodrug (molecular weight, MW: 93.5 kDa) was produced by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The amphiphilic block polymer-doxorubicin (DOX) prodrug was employed to deliver a hydrophobic photosensitizer (PS), chlorin e6 (Ce6), and the as-prepared nanoscale system [NPs(Ce6)] was investigated as a chemo-photodynamic anti-cancer agent. The glutathione (GSH)-cleavable disulfide bond was inserted into the backbone of the polymer for biodegradation inside tumor cells, and DOX conjugated onto the polymer with a disulfide bond was successfully released intracellularly. NPs(Ce6) released DOX and Ce6 with their original molecular structures and degraded into segments with low MWs of 41.2 kDa in the presence of GSH. NPs(Ce6) showed a chemo-photodynamic therapeutic effect to kill 4T1 murine breast cancer cells, which was confirmed from a collapsed cell morphology, a lifted level in the intracellular reactive oxygen species, a reduced viability and induced apoptosis. Moreover, ex vivo fluorescence images indicated that NPs(Ce6) retained in the tumor, and exhibited a remarkable in vivo anticancer efficacy. The combinational therapy showed a significantly increased tumor growth inhibition (TGI, 58.53%). Therefore, the redox-responsive, amphiphilic block polymeric prodrug could have a great potential as a chemo-photodynamic anti-cancer agent.

Translational application of neuroimaging in major depressive disorder: a review of psychoradiological studies / 医学前沿

Major depressive disorder (MDD) causes great decrements in health and quality of life with increments in healthcare costs, but the causes and pathogenesis of depression remain largely unknown, which greatly prevent its early detection and effective treatment. With the advancement of neuroimaging approaches, numerous functional and structural alterations in the brain have been detected in MDD and more recently attempts have been made to apply these findings to clinical practice. In this review, we provide an updated summary of the progress in translational application of psychoradiological findings in MDD with a specified focus on potential clinical usage. The foreseeable clinical applications for different MRI modalities were introduced according to their role in disorder classification, subtyping, and prediction. While evidence of cerebral structural and functional changes associated with MDD classification and subtyping was heterogeneous and/or sparse, the ACC and hippocampus have been consistently suggested to be important biomarkers in predicting treatment selection and treatment response. These findings underlined the potential utility of brain biomarkers for clinical practice.

The diagnostic performance of MR psychoradiology in identifying patients with mental disorders / 中华放射学杂志

Objective:To explore the efficiency of MR psychoradiology examination in screening and classification of psychiatric disorders as well as its potential clinical application.Methods:Retrospective study was conducted for 144 patients with MR psychoradiology examination, who were diagnosed mental disorders based on International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems Tenth Revision (ICD-10) from September 2018 to July 2020 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University. As our previous studies, imaging diagnostic models were constructed based on gray matter volume (GMV) analysis for four kinds of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. For 120 patients with psychiatric disorders, the GMV change pattern of brain regions was detected and subtyped by MR psychoradiology examination with 50% similarity threshold of the above imaging diagnostic models. The diagnostic efficiency of MR psychoradiology examination was evaluated with references of clinical diagnose. For 24 patients with dementia, brain atrophy was additionally measured by conventional MR examination and MR psychoradiology examination respectively.Results:The sensitivity, specificity, Youden index and accuracy of MR psychoradiology in identifying the four psychiatric disorders were 86.6% (84/97), 69.6% (16/23), 0.56 and 83.3% (100/120), including depression [77.8% (28/36), 69.0% (58/84), 0.47, 71.7% (86/120)], schizophrenia [58.8% (10/17), 91.3% (94/103), 0.50, 86.7% (104/120)], bipolar disorder [42.1% (8/19), 96.0% (97/101), 0.38, 87.5% (105/120)] and anxiety disorder [24.0% (6/25), 100% (95/95), 0.24, 84.2% (101/120)]. As for 24 patients with dementia, 58.3% (14/24) were detected with brain atrophy by conventional MR examination, while 91.7% (22/24) were detected by MR psychoradiology examination.Conclusions:MR psychoradiology can detect the subtle brain structural abnormalities of patients with mental disorders. Although it can′t be used as an independent biomarker for disease diagnosis till now, it is of great help in improving the accuracy and objectivity of diagnosis.

Cathepsin B-responsive and gadolinium-labeled branched glycopolymer-PTX conjugate-derived nanotheranostics for cancer treatment

Multi-modal therapeutics are emerging for simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Polymeric carriers are often employed for loading multiple drugs due to their versatility and controlled release of these drugs in response to a tumor specific microenvironment. A theranostic nanomedicine was designed and prepared by complexing a small gadolinium chelate, conjugating a chemotherapeutic drug PTX through a cathepsin B-responsive linker and covalently bonding a fluorescent probe pheophorbide a (Ppa) with a branched glycopolymer. The branched prodrug-based nanosystem was degradable in the tumor microenvironment with overexpressed cathepsin B, and PTX was simultaneously released to exert its therapeutic effect. The theranostic nanomedicine, branched glycopolymer-PTX-DOTA-Gd, had an extended circulation time, enhanced accumulation in tumors, and excellent biocompatibility with significantly reduced gadolinium ion (Gd

Altered white matter microarchitecture in Parkinson's disease: a voxel-based meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging studies / 医学前沿

This study aimed to define the most consistent white matter microarchitecture pattern in Parkinson's disease (PD) reflected by fractional anisotropy (FA), addressing clinical profiles and methodology-related heterogeneity. Web-based publication databases were searched to conduct a meta-analysis of whole-brain diffusion tensor imaging studies comparing PD with healthy controls (HC) using the anisotropic effect size-signed differential mapping. A total of 808 patients with PD and 760 HC coming from 27 databases were finally included. Subgroup analyses were conducted considering heterogeneity with respect to medication status, disease stage, analysis methods, and the number of diffusion directions in acquisition. Compared with HC, patients with PD had decreased FA in the left middle cerebellar peduncle, corpus callosum (CC), left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and right inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Most of the main results remained unchanged in subgroup meta-analyses of medicated patients, early stage patients, voxel-based analysis, and acquisition with 30 diffusion directions. The subgroup meta-analysis of medication-free patients showed FA decrease in the right olfactory cortex. The cerebellum and CC, associated with typical motor impairment, showed the most consistent FA decreases in PD. Medication status, analysis approaches, and the number of diffusion directions have an important impact on the findings, needing careful evaluation in future meta-analyses.

Cerebral regional and network characteristics in asthma patients: a resting-state fMRI study / 医学前沿

Asthma is a serious health problem that involves not only the respiratory system but also the central nervous system. Previous studies identified either regional or network alterations in patients with asthma, but inconsistent results were obtained. A key question remains unclear: are the regional and neural network deficits related or are they two independent characteristics in asthma? Answering this question is the aim of this study. By collecting resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from 39 patients with asthma and 40 matched health controls, brain functional measures including regional activity (amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations) and neural network function (degree centrality (DC) and functional connectivity) were calculated to systematically characterize the functional alterations. Patients exhibited regional abnormities in the left angular gyrus, right precuneus, and inferior temporal gyrus within the default mode network. Network abnormalities involved both the sensorimotor network and visual network with key regions including the superior frontal gyrus and occipital lobes. Altered DC in the lingual gyrus was correlated with the degree of airway obstruction. This study elucidated different patterns of regional and network changes, thereby suggesting that the two parameters reflect different brain characteristics of asthma. These findings provide evidence for further understanding the potential cerebral alterations in the pathophysiology of asthma.

Hippocampal subfield volume alteration in post-traumatic stress disorder: a magnetic resonance imaging study / 生物医学工程学杂志

In the current study, we aim to investigate whether post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with structural alterations in specific subfields of hippocampus comparing with trauma-exposed control (TC) in a relatively large sample. We included 67 PTSD patients who were diagnosed under Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition) (DSM-Ⅳ) criteria and 78 age- and sex-matched non-PTSD adult survivors who experienced similar stressors. High resolution T1 weighted images were obtained via a GE 3.0 T scanner. The structural data was automatically segmented using FreeSurfer software, and volume of whole hippocampus and subfield including CA1, CA2-3, CA4-DG, fimbria, presubiculum, subiculum and fissure were extracted. Volume differences between the two groups were statistically compared with age, years of education, duration from the events and intracranial volume (ICV) as covariates. Hemisphere, sex and diagnosis were entered as fixed factors. Relationship between morphometric measurements with Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) score and illness duration were performed using Pearson's correlation with SPSS. Comparing to TC, PTSD patients showed no statistically significant alteration in volumes of the whole hippocampus and all the subfields ( > 0.05). In male patients, there were significant correlations between CAPS score and volume of right CA2-3 ( = 0.197, = 0.034), right subiculum ( = 0.245, = 0.016), and duration statistically correlated with right fissure ( = 0.247, = 0.016). In female patients, CAPS scores significant correlated with volume of left presubiculum ( = 0.095, = 0.042), left subiculum ( = 0.090, = 0.048), and left CA4-DG ( = 0.099, = 0.037). The main findings of the current study suggest that stress event causes non-selective damage to hippocampus in both PTSD patients and TC, and gender-specific lateralization may underlie PTSD pathology.

Current progress in neuroimaging research on treatment resistant depression / 生物医学工程学杂志

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder, and approximately 30% patients with depression do not respond effectively to standard antidepressant medication; this condition is termed treatment resistant depression (TRD) and its neurobiological mechanism remains unclear. Neuroimaging techniques can non-invasively explore changes in brain structure, function and metabolism. These techniques have been applied in neurobiological research of TRD and revealed critical abnormalities in brain structure, function and metabolism in fronto-limbic system. In this paper, we reviewed the latest progress in neuroimaging researches on TRD, providing new insight and imaging evidence for further neurobiological studies of TRD.

Brain cortical thickness abnormalities in first-episode, never-medicated, adult major depressive disorder patients / 中华放射学杂志

Objective Present study aimed to characterize the alteration of cortical thickness in first-episode, never-medicated, adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and explore whether such deficits were related with their disease duration and clinical symptom severity. Methods Thirty-seven adult MDD patients were recruited from March 2013 to August 2015 as patient group, and 41 healthy volunteers were as control group. All the patients underwent three-dimensional spoiled gradient recalled (3D-SPGR) sequences, and the images were acquired. Constructions of the cortical surface were developed from 3D-SPGR images using FreeSurfer software, and the thickness of the entire cortex was measured according to the automated surface reconstruction, transformation, and high-resolution inter-subject alignment procedures. Finally, cortical thickness was compared between the two groups, and the relativity between clinical symptom severity, disease progression and clinical scores were analyzed using the General Linear Model (GLM). Results Our results revealed a significant increase in cortical thickness(P0.05). Conclusion Excluding the impact of treatment, our study showed that the cortical thickness change was mainly located in the prefrontal-limbic system in the in early course of MDD.

Analysis of Altered Baseline Brain Activity in Drug-Naive Adult Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder Using Resting-State Functional MRI

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesize that the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) is involved in the altered regional baseline brain function in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The aim of the study was to analyze the altered baseline brain activity in drug-naive adult patients with SAD. METHODS: We investigated spontaneous and baseline brain activities by obtaining the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 20 drug-naive adult SAD patients and 19 healthy controls. Voxels were used to analyze the ALFF values using one- and two-sample t-tests. A post-hoc correlation of clinical symptoms was also performed. RESULTS: Our findings show decreased ALFF in the bilateral insula, left medial superior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left middle temporal gyrus, right middle temporal pole, and left fusiform gyrus of the SAD group. The SAD patients exhibited significantly increased ALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, orbital superior frontal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, right medial superior frontal gyrus, and left parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale results for the SAD patients were positively correlated with the mean Z values of the right middle occipital and right inferior occipital but showed a negative correlation with the mean Z values of the right superior temporal gyrus and right medial superior frontal gyrus. CONCLUSION: These results of the altered regional baseline brain function in SAD suggest that the regions with abnormal spontaneous activities are involved in the underlying pathophysiology of SAD patients.

Brain-based Correlations Between Psychological Factors and Functional Dyspepsia

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Increasing evidence shows involvement of psychological disorders in functional dyspepsia (FD), but how psychological factors exert their influences upon FD remains largely unclear. The purpose of the present study was to explore the brain-based correlations of psychological factors and FD. METHODS: Based on Fluorine-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography, the altered cerebral glycometabolism was investigated in 40 FD patients compared with 20 healthy controls during resting state using statistical parametric mapping software. RESULTS: FD patients exhibited increased glucose metabolism in multiple regions relative to controls (P < 0.001, family-wise error corrected). After controlling for the dyspeptic symptoms, increased aberrations persisted within the insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and middle frontal cortex (midFC), which was related to anxiety and depression score. Interestingly, FD patients without anxiety/depression symptoms also showed increased glycometabolism within the insula, ACC, MCC and midFC. Moreover, FD patients with anxiety/depression symptoms exhibited more significant hypermetabolism within the above 4 sites compared with patients without anxiety/depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that the altered cerebral glycometabolism may be in a vicious cycle of psychological vulnerabilities and increased gastrointestinal symptoms.

Research progress of brain functional magnetic resonance imaging in post-traumatic stress disorder / 生物医学工程学杂志

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder causing great distress to individuals, families and even society, and there is not yet effective way of unified prevention and treatment up till now. Lots of neuroimaging techniques, however, such as the magnetic resonance imaging, are widely used to the study of the pathogenesis of PTSD with the development of medical imaging. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be applied to detect the abnormalities not only of the brain morphology but also of the function of various cerebral areas and neural circuit, and plays an important role in studying the pathogenesis of psychiatric diseases. In this paper, we mainly review the task-related and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of the PTSD, and finally suggest possible directions for future research.

Whole brain diffusion tensor imaging in diagnosing social anxiety disorder based on support vector machine / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of whole-brain diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) in diagnosing patients with social anxiety disorder(SAD) using an automated method based on support vector machine(SVM) classification.Methods Whole brain DTI data were collected from 19 patients with SAD and 19 age-,gender-and education-matched healthy control(HC) subjects.Fractional anisotropy(FA) of whole brain was obtained by input all tensor images into Diffusion Toolkit software.Based upon the characteristics of brain FA,the pattern recognition of brain image data(PROBID) toolbox on the grounds of SVM algorithm was employed to classify the subjects,evaluate the diagnostic value of whole-brain FA data based SVM in diagnosing SAD patients and verify the robustness of the diagnostic results using permutation test with the threshold at P≤0.001.The weight vector score of each voxel was calculated according to the ratio between this voxel and whole brain in FA differences of the two groups.The white matter regions identified by setting the threshold to the top 30％ of the weight vector scores with at least 10 contiguous voxels were demonstrated by MRIcro software.Results Diagnostic accuracy of whole-brain FA based SVM in diagnosing SAD was 92.11％ (35/38) in which the specificity was 94.44％ (17/18),the sensitivity was 90.00％(18/20),the positive likelihood ratio was 17.01,the negative likelihood ratio was 0.11 and the diagnostic index was 184.22％.Permutation test suggested that the diagnostic results were significantly reliable.White matter regions showing major contributions favoring SAD over HC were located in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum,the left uncinate fasciculus,the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus,the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus,bilateral frontal gyri and the left occipital lobe.Whereas,white matter in bilateral anterior cingula,the left middle cerebellar peduncle and the left inferior parietal lobule showed more contributions to diagnose HC than to diagnose SAD.Conclusions As whole brain FA data based on SVM showing a high accuracy in diagnosing SAD,brain DTI characteristics have the potential to be the specific indicators in the diagnosis of SAD.SVM might be used as a tool to verify the reliability of white matter abnormalities and provide regions of interest in DTI study of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

MR spectroscopy of amygdala: investigation of methodology / 生物医学工程学杂志

This study was aimed to optimize the methods of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to improve its quality in amygdala. Forty-three volunteers were examined at right and left amygdala using stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM), and point-resolved spectroscopy series (PRESS) with and without saturation bands. The Cr-SNR, water-suppression level, water full width at half maximum (FWHM) and RMS noise of three sequences were compared. The results showed that (1) the Cr-SNR and water-suppression lelvel of PRESS with saturation bands were better than that of PRESS without saturation bands and STEAM (P<0.001); (2) the left and right RMS noise was significantly different both using PRESS with saturation bands and using STEAM (P<0.05); (3) there was a positive, significant correlation between Cr-SNR and voxel size (P<0.05). Therefore, PRESS with saturation bands is better than PRESS without saturation bands or STEAM for the spectroscopy of amygdala. It is also useful to make the voxel as big as possible to improve the spectral quality.

A new method of distinguishing weak and overlapping signals of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy / 生物医学工程学杂志

In this paper, a new method of combining translation invariant (TI) and wavelet-threshold (WT) algorithm to distinguish weak and overlapping signals of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is presented. First, the 1H-MRS spectrum signal is transformed into wavelet domain and then its wavelet coefficients are obtained. Then, the TI method and WT method are applied to detect the weak signals overlapped by the strong ones. Through the analysis of the simulation data, we can see that both frequency and amplitude information of small-signals can be obtained accurately by the algorithm, and through the combination with the method of signal fitting, quantitative calculation of the area under weak signals peaks can be realized.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the frontal lobe and hippocampus in unaffected parents of schizophrenia probands / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ObjectiveTo examine biochemical characteristics of the frontal lobe and hippocampus in unaffected parentsof schizophreniaprohandsusingprotonmagneticresonancespectroscopy(1H-MRS).Method 19 unaffected fathers of schizophrenia probands with matched 19 male healthy control subjects and 24 unaffected mothers of schizophrenia probands with matched 24 female healthy control subjects were included in the study.1 H-MRS was performed in two sides of the hippocampus and frontal lobes regions.The ratios of N-Acetylaspartate ( NAA ),choline (Cho) to creatine (Cr) were measured.One-sample T test and paired-samples t test were used for statistic process.ResultsUnaffected mothers of schizophrenia probands had a higher Cho/Cr ratio ( left ( 1.10 ± 0.13,right ( 1.08 ± 0.12 ) ) in the frontal white matter compared with matched female health control subjects(left( 1.03 ± 0.10),right( 1.02 ± 0.09 )).The NAA/Cr ratio was significantly reduced in the left frontal white matter of female health control subjects compared to right( 1.64 ± 0.12 vs 1.74 ± 0.13 ),but this difference was not observed in unaffected mothers of schizophrenia probands.There were no significant differences in metabolites for frontal lobe and hippocampus regions between unaffected fathers of schizophrenia probands and male healthy control subjects groups( all P＞0.05 ).ConclusionThe results implicate that the metabolic abnormalities and disappeared asymmetry of NAA/Cr might exist in the frontal white matter among unaffected mothers of schizophrenia probands.

Changes in brain functional magnetic resonance imaging during noxious electric stimulation of forepaw and / 中华麻醉学杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the change in brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)during noxious electric stimu lation of forepaw and tail in rats.MethodsForty-eight healthy SD rats of both sexes weighing 300-450 g which responded sensitively to electrical stimulation as shown by Y-maze were randomly divided into 2 groups ( n =24 each) receiving nociceptive electric stimulation of left forepaw (group LF) and tail (group T) respectively.The animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal 10％ chloral hydrate 250-300 mg/kg.Brain fMRI was performed at 30 min after disappearance of righting reflex in both groups when electric stimulations were delivered intermittently to forepaw or tail.The images were analyzed with SPM2 software.ResultsPrimary and secondary somatosensory cortex,posterior cingutate cortex,amygdaloid nucleus and ventral posterolateral thalamic nucleus were activated in group T.Right accumbens nucleus,right primary somatosensory cortex,right ventral posterolateral thalamic nucleus and right posterior cingutate cortex were activated in group LF.ConclusionDifferent brain areas are activated by noxious electric stimulation of different parts of body as shown by brain fMRI.

A proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging study on prefrontal lobe and hippocampus in male patients with first-episode mania / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ObjectiveTo identify the metabolic alterations on prefrontal lobes and hippocampus in male patients with the first-episode mania using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(H-MRS).Method 18 male patients with the first-episode mania and 27 healthy subjects matched for age,gender,and years of education were included in the study.1 H-MRS was performed in two sides of the hippocampus and frontal lobes regions.The ratios of N-acetylaspartate (NAA),choline (Cho) to creatine (Cr) were measured.One-sample t test and paired-samples t test were used for statistic process.ResultsMale patients with the first-episode mania presented decreased NAA/Cr in left frontal lobe and hippocampus regions when compared to normal controls( left frontal lobe (1.68 ±0.19 vs 1.86 ± 0.19),hippocampus ( 1.32 ± 0.10 vs 1.43 ± 0.16 ),P ＜ 0.01 ),but there were no significant difference in NAA/Cr for right frontal lobe and hippocampus regions between groups ( all P ＞ 0.05 ).Two groups also showcd no significant difference for Cho/Cr in bilateral frontal lobe and hippocampus (P ＞ 0.05 ).Conclusion There is significant difference of manifestation of 1H-MRS between male patients with mania and normal controls,which reflects neuronal dysfunction in the prefrontal lobes and hippocampus.

Decreased occipital GABA concentrations in patients with first-episode major depressive disorder: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study / 生物医学工程学杂志

Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain. Alterations in GABAergic function are associated with a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, noninvasive in vivo measurement of GABA is difficult because of its low concentration and the presence of overlapping resonances. To study GABA concentration in the occipital cortex in major depressive disorder (MDD), a group of medication-naive, first episode depressed patients (n = 18, HAMD > 17), and a group of healthy controls (n = 23) were investigated using a Point Resolved Spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) on a 3.0 T MR scanner. The results showed that occipital GABA levels were significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the patient group than those in the healthy controls, yet the correlations between the severity of MDD (HAMD, BDI) and the GABA concentration is insignificant. Therefore, our data suggest that patients with first episode, unmedicated MDD have changes in cortical concentrations of GABA. This biochemical abnormality may be a marker of a trait vulnerability to mood disorder, and may explain the visual problem of severe MDD patients.

An optimized voxel-based morphometry study of gray matter abnormalities in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To explore changes of gray matter volume in patients with obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD) in Chinese Han population using optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) ,and investigate its relationship with clinical symptoms. Methods Twenty patients with OCD and 20 age,sex and handedness matched healthy controls were scanned using 3D-T1 images on a 3.0 T MR system. The high resolution T1WI was preprocessed according to the optimized VBM protocol in Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM5). Two-sample t test was performed to characterize the differences of the gray matter volume (GMV) between the OCD patients and healthy controls, and the correlations between the GMV and symptom severity and cumulative illness duration were examined using Pearson correlation in SPSS 16. 0, respectively.Results Compared to controls, OCD patients demonstrated increased GMV in left thalamus, right thalamus and left cerebellum after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. No areas of significantly decreased GMV was observed in OCD patients in relative to healthy controls. The mean eigenvalue ranged from 0. 5782 to 0. 889 representing the left thalamus volume of OCD patients was 0. 6813 ± 0. 0718, and that ranged from 0. 5546 to 0. 9062 was 0. 6869 ± 0. 0808 tor right thalamus. The mean eigenvalues were positively correlated in bilateral thalamus (r = 0. 94, P ＜ 0. 01). Conclusion Using optimized VBM, the current research indicates that the pathophysiology of OCD is associated with GMV abnormalities not only in corticostriato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit, but also in the cerebellum.