The involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex in psychiatric disorders: an update of neuroimaging findings.

OBJECTIVE To report structural and functional neuroimaging studies exploring the potential role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the pathophysiology of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders (PD). METHOD A non-systematic literature review was conducted by means of MEDLINE using the following terms as parameters: "orbitofrontal cortex", "schizophrenia", "bipolar disorder", "major depression", "anxiety disorders", "personality disorders" and "drug addiction". The electronic search was done up to July 2011. DISCUSSION Structural and functional OFC abnormalities have been reported in many PD, namely schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and drug addiction. Structural magnetic resonance imaging studies have reported reduced OFC volume in patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, PTSD, panic disorder, cluster B personality disorders and drug addiction. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using cognitive paradigms have shown impaired OFC activity in all PD listed above. CONCLUSION Neuroimaging studies have observed an important OFC involvement in a number of PD. However, future studies are clearly needed to characterize the specific role of OFC on each PD as well as understanding its role in both normal and pathological behavior, mood regulation and cognitive functioning.

[1]  M. Keshavan,et al.  Morphology of the orbitofrontal cortex in first-episode schizophrenia: Relationship with negative symptomatology , 2007, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[2]  N. Volkow,et al.  Imaging dopamine's role in drug abuse and addiction , 2009, Neuropharmacology.

[3]  H. Uylings,et al.  Differential frontal–striatal and paralimbic activity during reversal learning in major depressive disorder and obsessive–compulsive disorder , 2009, Psychological Medicine.

[4]  Osama Mawlawi,et al.  Prediction of panic response to a respiratory stimulant by reduced orbitofrontal cerebral blood flow in panic disorder. , 2005, The American journal of psychiatry.

[5]  E. Rolls,et al.  The functional neuroanatomy of the human orbitofrontal cortex: evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology , 2004, Progress in Neurobiology.

[6]  B. Miller,et al.  Double dissociation in the anatomy of socioemotional disinhibition and executive functioning in dementia. , 2011, Neuropsychology.

[7]  Mark S. Cohen,et al.  Regional brain changes in bipolar I depression: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. , 2008, Bipolar disorders.

[8]  M. Keshavan,et al.  Automated MRI parcellation study of regional volume and thickness of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in antipsychotic‐naïve schizophrenia , 2008, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[9]  Nick F. Ramsey,et al.  Evidence of altered cortical and amygdala activation during social decision-making in schizophrenia , 2008, NeuroImage.

[10]  E. Rolls,et al.  The Orbitofrontal Cortex , 2019 .

[11]  R. Frances.  Gene X Disease Interaction on Orbitofrontal Gray Matter in Cocaine Addiction , 2012 .

[12]  David Silbersweig,et al.  Failure of frontolimbic inhibitory function in the context of negative emotion in borderline personality disorder. , 2007, American Journal of Psychiatry.

[13]  S. Floresco,et al.  Neural circuits subserving behavioral flexibility and their relevance to schizophrenia , 2009, Behavioural Brain Research.

[14]  Darin D Dougherty,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex during traumatic imagery in male and female Vietnam veterans with PTSD. , 2004, Archives of general psychiatry.

[15]  J. Swanson,et al.  Dopamine in drug abuse and addiction: results of imaging studies and treatment implications. , 2007, Archives of neurology.

[16]  Yoshiharu Kim,et al.  Structure of orbitofrontal cortex and its longitudinal course in cancer-related post-traumatic stress disorder , 2007, Neuroscience Research.

[17]  M. Banich,et al.  Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex Gray Matter Is Reduced in Abstinent Substance-Dependent Individuals , 2009, Biological Psychiatry.

[18]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow during script-driven imagery in childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD: A PET investigation. , 1999, The American journal of psychiatry.

[19]  Emily Stern,et al.  Defining the neurocircuitry of borderline personality disorder: Functional neuroimaging approaches , 2005, Development and Psychopathology.

[20]  W. Drevets,et al.  Orbitofrontal Cortex Function and Structure in Depression , 2007, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[21]  D. Kupfer,et al.  Anatomic evaluation of the orbitofrontal cortex in major depressive disorder , 2004, Biological Psychiatry.

[22]  S. Kennedy,et al.  Volumetric neuroimaging investigations in mood disorders: bipolar disorder versus major depressive disorder. , 2008, Bipolar disorders.

[23]  Janet B W Williams.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , 2013 .

[24]  Dc Washington.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. , 1994 .

[25]  S. Rauch,et al.  Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Regional Brain Activation During Implicit Sequence Learning in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder , 2007, Biological Psychiatry.

[26]  Sabine Landau,et al.  Evidence for orbitofrontal pathology in bipolar disorder and major depression, but not in schizophrenia. , 2005, Bipolar disorders.

[27]  M. Rushworth,et al.  The contribution of distinct subregions of the ventromedial frontal cortex to emotion, social behavior, and decision making , 2008, Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience.

[28]  Dennis Velakoulis,et al.  Orbitofrontal, amygdala and hippocampal volumes in teenagers with first-presentation borderline personality disorder , 2008, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

[29]  Y. Hirayasu,et al.  Posterior orbitofrontal sulcogyral pattern associated with orbitofrontal cortex volume reduction and anxiety trait in panic disorder , 2010, Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

[30]  K. Berridge,et al.  Affective neuroscience of pleasure: reward in humans and animals , 2008, Psychopharmacology.

[31]  James A. Waltz,et al.  Probabilistic reversal learning impairments in schizophrenia: Further evidence of orbitofrontal dysfunction , 2007, Schizophrenia Research.

[32]  D. Gall,et al.  A contribution to the study of environmental dependency phenomena: The social hypothesis , 2011, Neuropsychologia.