Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach

IntroductionObsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is a complex mental condition marked by excessive perfectionism, orderliness, and rigidity, often starting in adolescence or early adulthood; it affects 1.9% to 7.8% of the population. The disorder differs from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorde...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lorenzo Arena, Wenceslao Peñate, Francisco Rivero, Rosario J. Marrero, Teresa Olivares, Alessandro Scarano, Ascensión Fumero, Alessandro Grecucci
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1559760/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850136560838639616
author Lorenzo Arena
Wenceslao Peñate
Wenceslao Peñate
Francisco Rivero
Rosario J. Marrero
Rosario J. Marrero
Teresa Olivares
Alessandro Scarano
Ascensión Fumero
Ascensión Fumero
Alessandro Grecucci
author_facet Lorenzo Arena
Wenceslao Peñate
Wenceslao Peñate
Francisco Rivero
Rosario J. Marrero
Rosario J. Marrero
Teresa Olivares
Alessandro Scarano
Ascensión Fumero
Ascensión Fumero
Alessandro Grecucci
author_sort Lorenzo Arena
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionObsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is a complex mental condition marked by excessive perfectionism, orderliness, and rigidity, often starting in adolescence or early adulthood; it affects 1.9% to 7.8% of the population. The disorder differs from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in an apparent compromise of personality, distorted self-representation, and altered perception of others. Although the two disorders present evident differences, unlike OCD, the neural bases of OCPD are understudied. The few studies conducted so far have identified gray matter alterations in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex. However, a comprehensive model of its neurobiology and the eventual contribution of white matter abnormalities are still unclear. One intriguing hypothesis is that regions ascribed to the Default Mode Network are involved in OCPD, similar to what has been shown for OCD and other anxiety disorders.MethodsTo test this hypothesis, the gray and white matter images of 30 individuals diagnosed with OCPD (73% female, mean age=29.300), and 34 non-OCPD controls (82% female, mean age = 25.599) were analyzed for the first time with a data fusion unsupervised machine learning method known as Parallel Independent Component Analysis (pICA) to detect the joint contribution of these modalities to the OCPD diagnosis.ResultsResults indicated that two gray matter networks (GM-05 and GM-23) and one white matter network (WM-25) differed between the OCPD and the control group. GM-05 included brain regions belonging to the Default Mode Network and the Salience Network and was significantly correlated with anxiety; GM-23 included portions of the cerebellum, the precuneus, and the fusiform gyrus; WM-25 included white matter portions adjacent to Default Mode Network regions.DiscussionThese findings shed new light on the gray and white matter contributions to OCPD and may pave the way to developing objective markers of this disorder.
format Article
id doaj-art-a399f0c763b24f77afa1b46e65c02879
institution OA Journals
issn 1662-5161
language English
publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
spelling doaj-art-a399f0c763b24f77afa1b46e65c028792025-08-20T02:31:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612025-05-011910.3389/fnhum.2025.15597601559760Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approachLorenzo Arena0Wenceslao Peñate1Wenceslao Peñate2Francisco Rivero3Rosario J. Marrero4Rosario J. Marrero5Teresa Olivares6Alessandro Scarano7Ascensión Fumero8Ascensión Fumero9Alessandro Grecucci10Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, ItalyDepartamento de Psicología Clínica, Psicobiología y Metodología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainInstituto Universitario De Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainFacultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Europea de Canarias, La Orotava, SpainDepartamento de Psicología Clínica, Psicobiología y Metodología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainInstituto Universitario De Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainDepartamento de Psicología Clínica, Psicobiología y Metodología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, ItalyDepartamento de Psicología Clínica, Psicobiología y Metodología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainInstituto Universitario De Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, SpainDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, ItalyIntroductionObsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is a complex mental condition marked by excessive perfectionism, orderliness, and rigidity, often starting in adolescence or early adulthood; it affects 1.9% to 7.8% of the population. The disorder differs from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in an apparent compromise of personality, distorted self-representation, and altered perception of others. Although the two disorders present evident differences, unlike OCD, the neural bases of OCPD are understudied. The few studies conducted so far have identified gray matter alterations in brain regions such as the striatum and prefrontal cortex. However, a comprehensive model of its neurobiology and the eventual contribution of white matter abnormalities are still unclear. One intriguing hypothesis is that regions ascribed to the Default Mode Network are involved in OCPD, similar to what has been shown for OCD and other anxiety disorders.MethodsTo test this hypothesis, the gray and white matter images of 30 individuals diagnosed with OCPD (73% female, mean age=29.300), and 34 non-OCPD controls (82% female, mean age = 25.599) were analyzed for the first time with a data fusion unsupervised machine learning method known as Parallel Independent Component Analysis (pICA) to detect the joint contribution of these modalities to the OCPD diagnosis.ResultsResults indicated that two gray matter networks (GM-05 and GM-23) and one white matter network (WM-25) differed between the OCPD and the control group. GM-05 included brain regions belonging to the Default Mode Network and the Salience Network and was significantly correlated with anxiety; GM-23 included portions of the cerebellum, the precuneus, and the fusiform gyrus; WM-25 included white matter portions adjacent to Default Mode Network regions.DiscussionThese findings shed new light on the gray and white matter contributions to OCPD and may pave the way to developing objective markers of this disorder.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1559760/fullObsessive-Compulsive Personality Disordermachine learningdata fusiongray matterwhite matter
spellingShingle Lorenzo Arena
Wenceslao Peñate
Wenceslao Peñate
Francisco Rivero
Rosario J. Marrero
Rosario J. Marrero
Teresa Olivares
Alessandro Scarano
Ascensión Fumero
Ascensión Fumero
Alessandro Grecucci
Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
machine learning
data fusion
gray matter
white matter
title Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
title_full Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
title_fullStr Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
title_full_unstemmed Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
title_short Gray and white matter alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: a data fusion machine learning approach
title_sort gray and white matter alterations in obsessive compulsive personality disorder a data fusion machine learning approach
topic Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
machine learning
data fusion
gray matter
white matter
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1559760/full
work_keys_str_mv AT lorenzoarena grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT wenceslaopenate grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT wenceslaopenate grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT franciscorivero grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT rosariojmarrero grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT rosariojmarrero grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT teresaolivares grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT alessandroscarano grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT ascensionfumero grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT ascensionfumero grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach
AT alessandrogrecucci grayandwhitematteralterationsinobsessivecompulsivepersonalitydisorderadatafusionmachinelearningapproach