Mapping dopamine's role in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A scoping review of neural circuits, brain regions, and behavioral implications.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Scoping review synthesizing heterogeneous neuroimaging and pharmacological studies without systematic trial appraisal
PubMed 41420895 · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.12.007
What was done
A scoping review synthesized findings from 19 studies evaluating the role of dopamine in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), focusing on neural circuits, brain regions, and behavioral manifestations.
What was found
Evidence from 19 studies identified dopaminergic dysfunction across cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuits, with altered dopamine receptor availability in the dorsal striatum, ventral striatum, and anterior cingulate cortex. Pharmacological data revealed both hyperdopaminergic and hypodopaminergic contributions to OCD symptoms, with dopamine antagonists and partial agonists demonstrating efficacy in targeting striatal overactivation and restoring cortical balance. The abstract reports no numerical values or effect sizes.
Why it matters
It maps dopamine's complex, circuit-specific involvement in OCD pathophysiology, providing a rationale for tailored dopamine-modulating pharmacotherapies.
Limits
The abstract provides no quantitative data, effect sizes, or participant numbers for the included studies. As a scoping review, it synthesizes broad literature without formal quality appraisal, risk of bias assessment, or meta-analytic pooling.
Cited by
- supports Obsessive-compulsive disorder is directly tied to the brain's dopamine pathway.