Functional MRI studies in disruptive behaviour disorders

Aggressive or antisocial behaviours with violations of social rules are the main features of disruptive behaviour disorders (DBDs), which are developmental diseases and include conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. In the last decade, several efforts have been made to shed light on the biological underpinnings of DBDs. In this context, the main findings of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in DBD are reported here. There are indications of neural dysfunctions in response to affective stimuli, especially regarding medial and orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex and connected subcortical structures.