White matter (WM) alteration is considered to be a vital neurological mechanism of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, little is known regarding the changes in topological organization of WM structural network in OCD. We acquired diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) datasets from 28 drug-naïve OCD patients and 28 well-matched healthy controls (HC). A deterministic fiber tracking approach was used to construct the whole-brain structural connectome. Group differences in global and nodal topological properties as well as rich-club organizations were compared by using graph theory analysis. The relationship between the altered network metrics and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was calculated. Compared with controls, OCD patients exhibited a significantly decreased small-worldness (σ), normalized clustering coefficient (γ) and shortest path length (Lp), as well as an increased global efficiency (Eglob). The nodal efficiency (Enodal) was found to be reduced in the left middle frontal gyrus, and increased in the right parahippocampal gyrus and bilateral putamen in OCD patients. Besides, OCD patients showed increased rich-club, feeder and local connection strength, and the connection strength of the rich-club was positively correlated with the total Y-BOCS score. Our findings emphasized a central role for the complicatedly changed topological architecture of brain structural networks in the pathological mechanism underlying OCD.

中文翻译：

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未使用药物的强迫症患者白质结构网络的改变。

白质（WM）改变被认为是强迫症（OCD）的重要神经机制。但是，关于OCD中WM结构网络的拓扑组织的变化知之甚少。我们从28名未使用过药物的OCD患者和28个匹配良好的健康对照（HC）中获得了扩散张量成像（DTI）数据集。确定性的纤维跟踪方法被用来构建全脑结构连接体。使用图论分析比较了全局和节点拓扑属性以及富俱乐部组织中的组差异。计算了更改后的网络指标与耶鲁-布朗强迫症量表（Y-BOCS）之间的关系。与对照组相比，强迫症患者的小世界（σ）显着降低，归一化聚类系数（γ）和最短路径长度（Lp），以及更高的全局效率（Eglob）。发现强迫症患者左中额叶回的淋巴结效率（Enodal）降低，右海马旁回和双侧壳状核提高。此外，强迫症患者表现出丰富的球杆，支线和局部连接强度，并且丰富的球杆的连接强度与总的Y-BOCS得分呈正相关。我们的研究结果强调了复杂的大脑结构网络拓扑结构在强迫症背后的病理机制中的核心作用。在强迫症患者中，右海马旁回和双侧壳核增多。此外，强迫症患者表现出丰富的球杆，支线和局部连接强度，并且丰富的球杆的连接强度与总的Y-BOCS得分呈正相关。我们的研究结果强调了复杂的大脑结构网络拓扑结构在强迫症背后的病理机制中的核心作用。强迫症患者的右海马旁回和双侧壳核增多。此外，强迫症患者表现出丰富的球杆，支线和局部连接强度，并且丰富的球杆的连接强度与总的Y-BOCS得分呈正相关。我们的研究结果强调了复杂的大脑结构网络拓扑结构在强迫症背后的病理机制中的核心作用。