Beitchman Joseph H, Zai Clement C, Muir Katherine, Berall Laura, Nowrouzi Behdin, Choi Esther, Kennedy James L
Child, Youth and Family Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Room 125, Toronto, Canada.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Mar;21(3):125-32. doi: 10.1007/s00787-012-0240-6. Epub 2012 Feb 1.
Given the known behavior effects of oxytocin,and in particular its putative effect on trust, affiliation and anxiety, we hypothesized that oxytocin may be involved in the development and expression of callous-unemotional traits in children with aggressive antisocial behavior. We recruited 162 children between the ages of 6 and 16. The majority of subjects were Caucasian (84.0%) compared to African-Canadian (4.9%) and others (11.1%). The oxytocin and oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms were genotyped and analyzed for possible association with child aggression in a case–control study design as well as with callous-unemotional traits in a within cases analysis. We did not have significant findings with our tested OXTR markers in the case–control analysis. We found the OXTR_rs237885 AA genotype carriers to score higher than AC or CC genotype carriers on the callous-unemotional traits. This result remained significant following correction for multiple testing. No other markers were found to be significant. However, the haplotype consisting of the OXTR_rs237885 A allele and OXTR_rs2268493 A allele was associated with significantly higher callous-unemotionals cores than other haplotypes. This is the first known study to show a significant association between callous unemotional traits in children and adolescents with extreme, persistent pervasive aggression and a polymorphism on the oxytocin receptor. Given the small sample size and the possibility of false positive effects, the need to replicate and verify these findings is required.
鉴于已知的催产素行为效应，尤其是其对信任、亲和性和焦虑的假定作用，我们推测催产素可能与具有攻击性行为的反社会儿童冷酷无情特质的发展和表现有关。我们招募了162名6至16岁的儿童。与非裔加拿大儿童（4.9%）和其他儿童（11.1%）相比，大多数受试者是白种人（84.0%）。在一项病例对照研究设计中，对催产素和催产素受体基因多态性进行基因分型并分析其与儿童攻击行为的可能关联，同时在病例内分析中分析其与冷酷无情特质的关联。在病例对照分析中，我们对所检测的OXTR标记未得出显著结果。我们发现OXTR_rs237885 AA基因型携带者在冷酷无情特质上的得分高于AC或CC基因型携带者。在进行多重检验校正后，这一结果仍然显著。未发现其他标记具有显著性。然而，由OXTR_rs237885 A等位基因和OXTR_rs2268493 A等位基因组成的单倍型与显著更高的冷酷无情得分相关，高于其他单倍型。这是已知的第一项研究，表明儿童和青少年的冷酷无情特质与极端、持续的普遍攻击行为以及催产素受体的多态性之间存在显著关联。鉴于样本量较小以及存在假阳性效应的可能性，需要重复和验证这些发现。
