Amygdala responses to salient social cues vary with oxytocin receptor genotype in youth

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 79; no. Pt A; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Marusak, Hilary A., Furman, Daniella J., Kuruvadi, Nisha, Shattuck, David W., Joshi, Shantanu H., Joshi, Anand A., Etkin, Amit, Thomason, Moriah E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-12-2015
• Subjects: Adolescent; Amygdala - blood supply; Amygdala - pathology; Amygdala - physiopathology; Child; Cues; Depression; Early stress; Emotions - physiology; Female; Functional Laterality; Genetics; Genotype; Gray Matter - blood supply; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Limbic; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Minority Groups; Oxygen - blood; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Photic Stimulation; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Poverty; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Receptors, Oxytocin - genetics; Stress, Psychological - genetics; Stress, Psychological - pathology; Stroop; Genetics; Depression; Stroop; Limbic; Early stress
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.10.015

Depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder are linked to altered limbic morphology, dysregulated neuroendocrine function, and heightened amygdala responses to salient social cues. Oxytocin appears to be a potent modulator of amygdala reactivity and neuroendocrine responses to psychosocial stress. Given these stress regulatory effects, there is increasing interest in understanding the role of oxytocin in vulnerability to stress-related clinical disorders. The present study examines the impact of a common functional variant within the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene (rs2254298) on structure and function of the amygdala in a high-risk sample of urban, low-income, minority youth with a high incidence of early life stress (ELS). Compared to G/G homozygotes, youth carrying the OXTR A-allele showed increased amygdala volume, reduced behavioral performance, and heightened amygdala response during two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks that involved viewing socially-relevant face stimuli. Higher amygdala response was related to ELS in A-allele carriers but not G/G homozygotes. These findings underscore a series of relations among a common oxytocin system gene variant, ELS exposure, and structure and function of the amygdala in early life. Heightened amygdala response to salient social cues in OXTR A-allele carriers may elevate risk for emotional psychopathology by increasing amygdala involvement in disambiguating environmental cues, particularly for individuals with ELS.
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•Amygdala volume and responses to social cues vary with an OXTR gene variant.•Amygdala response was related to early stress in youth A-allele carriers.•Increased amygdala response in youth may convey higher risk of psychopathology.