# Neurocircuitry of OCD: Effects of Modulation

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2022 · $3,180,058

## Abstract

Project Summary (Abstract)
Overall
The overall goal of this Center is to further understand and probe the neural network central to obsessive
compulsive disorder (OCD) and the abnormalities within that network that are associated with impaired
behavioral flexibility that is reflected in persistent avoidance, a key clinical feature of the disease. The rostral
and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (rACC and dACC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
(vlPFC), insula and the striatum are associated with abnormalities in OCD and are the cortical nodes in the OCD
network (OCDnet). The Center hypothesis is that the behavioral inflexibility reflected in persistent avoidance in
OCD is the result of circuit dysfunction between central nodes in the OCD network (OCDnet). Collectively we
will use a multimodal, cross-species network approach to achieve 3 overarching aims: 1. Identify cortical regions
within the OCDnet that cross-link circuit connections to other nodes; 2. Understand how impairments in
behavioral flexibility that results in persistence avoidance are associated with these connections in OCD patients
compared to healthy control subjects; and 3. Study the effects of modulation on these circuits and on behavioral
inflexibility. Specifically, Aim 1 will use a combination of animal studies (P1, 2), and human studies (P1, 3,
Cores B, C) to characterize the OCDnet circuits anatomically, physiologically, and behaviorally; Aim 2 will
characterize how impairments in a newly developed probabilistic approach avoidance task PAAT are linked to
the abnormalities in the OCDnet (P2-4, Core B-D); and Aim 3 will modulate the OCDnet in OCD patients using
both conventional treatments (P4) and direct circuit manipulations (P5) (Cores B-D). Collectively, these studies
will further our understanding of circuit interactions of key brain regions implicated in OCD, their involvement in
behavioral inflexibility that results in persistent avoidance associated with OCD, and the effects of
neuromodulation of those circuits.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10411705
- **Project number:** 2P50MH106435-06A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Suzanne N Haber
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $3,180,058
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2015-06-01 → 2027-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10411705

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10411705, Neurocircuitry of OCD: Effects of Modulation (2P50MH106435-06A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10411705. Licensed CC0.

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