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An interaction between oxytocin and a genetic variation of the oxytocin receptor modulates amygdala activity toward direct gaze: evidence from a pharmacological imaging genetics study

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience volume 263, pages 169–175 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

The neuropeptide oxytocin plays an important role in social cognition. One valuable tool to study social cognition in healthy and autistic humans in a neuroscientific context is the investigation of gaze toward another person. Of importance, it has been demonstrated that pronounced amygdala activation could be observed, when participants are confronted with direct gaze pictures in an fMRI setting, an effect that can be particularly observed in autistic individuals. In the present study, a combined pharmacological imaging genetics study has been conducted to further investigate the biological basis of direct gaze processing. N = 55 healthy males were invited to an oxytocin challenge study administered while watching direct vs. averted gaze pictures in an fMRI setting. In addition, the promoter region of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene of the participants was investigated to search for individual differences in the recorded BOLD signal. The main result revealed that a genetic variation of the OXTR gene (rs401015) modulated the right amygdala activity for the fMRI contrast “direct > averted gaze” under the influence of the neuropeptide oxytocin. Here, carriers of the heterozygous CT variant showed higher activity compared to the TT group. The present study highlights the role of individual differences in a genetic variant of the OXTR gene for amygdala activation during processing of direct gaze pictures after intranasal oxytocin administration. In sum, the study shows the importance of combining a pharmacological challenge with genetic imaging to better understand the biological basis of social cognition.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a research grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association, DFG) to PK (KI 576/10-1) and MR (RE 1692/4-1). We thank Christiane Wörner, André Spachmann and Dagmar Gass for their assistance during data collection and analysis.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This article is part of the supplement “Bridging the gap between Neurobiology and Psychosocial Medicine.” This supplement was not sponsored by outside commercial interests. It was funded by the German Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (DGPPN).

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Christian Montag & Martin Reuter

  2. Laboratory of Neurogenetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Christian Montag & Martin Reuter

  3. Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Christian Montag & Martin Reuter

  4. Department of Clinical Psychology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany

    Carina Sauer & Peter Kirsch

Authors
  1. Christian Montag
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  2. Carina Sauer
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  3. Martin Reuter
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  4. Peter Kirsch
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Kirsch.

Additional information

Christian Montag and Carina Sauer have contributed equally to this study.

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Montag, C., Sauer, C., Reuter, M. et al. An interaction between oxytocin and a genetic variation of the oxytocin receptor modulates amygdala activity toward direct gaze: evidence from a pharmacological imaging genetics study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 263, 169–175 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0452-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0452-x

Keywords

  • Oxytocin
  • Gaze
  • Amygdala
  • Oxytocin receptor gene
  • Imaging genetics