Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2012 May;37(6):1474-82. doi: 10.1038/npp.2011.333. Epub 2012 Jan 25.
The intranasal application of oxytocin (OT) has been shown to influence behavioral and neural correlates of social processing. These effects are probably mediated by genetic variations within the OT system. One potential candidate could be the CD38 gene, which codes for a transmembrane protein engaged in OT secretion processes. A common variation in this gene (rs3796863) was recently found to be associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Using an imaging genetics approach, we studied differential effects of an intranasal OT application on neural processing of social stimuli in 55 healthy young men depending on their CD38 gene variant in a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design. Genotype had a significant influence on both behavioral and neuronal measures of social processing. Homozygotic risk allele carriers showed slower reaction times (RT) and higher activation of left fusiform gyrus during visual processing of social stimuli. Under OT activation differences between genotypes were more evident (though not statistically significantly increased) and RT were accelerated in homozygotic risk allele carriers. According to our data, rs3796863 mainly influences fusiform gyrus activation, an area which has been widely discussed in ASD research. OT seems to modulate this effect by enhancing activation differences between allele groups, which suggests an interaction between genetic makeup and OT availability on fusiform gyrus activation. These results support recent approaches to apply OT as a pharmacological treatment of ASD symptoms.
鼻内应用催产素（OT）已被证明会影响社交处理的行为和神经相关性。这些影响可能是由 OT 系统内的遗传变异介导的。一个潜在的候选基因可能是 CD38 基因，它编码一种参与 OT 分泌过程的跨膜蛋白。该基因的一个常见变异（rs3796863）最近被发现与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）有关。我们使用成像遗传学方法，在一项双盲安慰剂对照交叉设计中，研究了 55 名健康年轻男性中，CD38 基因变异对社交刺激神经处理的影响。在行为和社交处理的神经测量方面，基因型都有显著影响。纯合风险等位基因携带者在视觉处理社交刺激时反应时间（RT）较慢，左侧梭状回激活度较高。在 OT 激活下，基因型之间的差异更加明显（尽管没有统计学意义上的增加），并且纯合风险等位基因携带者的 RT 加快。根据我们的数据，rs3796863 主要影响梭状回的激活，这一区域在 ASD 研究中被广泛讨论。OT 似乎通过增强等位基因组之间的激活差异来调节这种影响，这表明遗传构成和 OT 可用性对梭状回激活之间存在相互作用。这些结果支持了将 OT 作为 ASD 症状的药物治疗的最新方法。
