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Unlike other conditions treated with antidepressants, obsessive-compulsive disorder responds preferentially to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs). Two research groups examined the physiology behind this phenomenon.
German researchers used SPECT to compare serotonin transporter activity in 9 unmedicated patients with OCD (4 with onset at age >17) and 10 healthy controls. Serotonin transporter availability in the midbrain and pons was about 25% higher in OCD patients than in controls; when analyzed by time of OCD onset, the difference was found to be completely attributable to early onset. No difference between groups was found in dopamine transporter activity in striatal regions.
In another study, 11 untreated patients with OCD (only one wit…