Gonzalez Marlen Z, Puglia Meghan H, Morris James P, Connelly Jessica J
a University of Virginia , Department of Psychology , Charlottesville , VA , USA.
Soc Neurosci. 2019 Feb;14(1):67-79. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1403954. Epub 2017 Nov 17.
Oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) polymorphisms, lower ventral striatum (VS) response to social stimuli, and lower economic privilege have been independently associated with depression and anxiety. However, the interactions between these risk factors are unknown. One hundred and fifty-seven healthy adult participants genotyped for OXTR rs237915 completed a common emotion-matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Past economic privilege and depression and anxiety symptoms were concurrently assessed through validated self-report measures. The data revealed an interaction between rs237915 genotype and economic privilege on the neural response to negative faces. C-carriers showed decreased VS activation and increased connectivity between the VS and ventromedial prefrontal cortex with increased economic privilege. TT homozygotes showed the reverse pattern. Low VS response to negative faces predicted increased social anxiety, but only for those with either lower economic privilege or the C allele. For those with both, low VS response was associated with paradoxically lower social anxiety. Findings suggest that economic privilege and OXTR rs237915 genotype may calibrate social motivational neural systems for better or worse. While lower VS response to negative faces may generally constitute a risk factor for social anxiety, lower response to social cues may be a benefit for those with dual risk.
催产素受体基因（OXTR）多态性、腹侧纹状体（VS）对社会刺激的反应较低以及经济特权较低，这些因素都分别与抑郁和焦虑有关。然而，这些风险因素之间的相互作用尚不清楚。157名对OXTR rs237915进行基因分型的健康成年参与者在功能磁共振成像期间完成了一项常见的情绪匹配任务。通过经过验证的自我报告测量方法，同时评估了过去的经济特权以及抑郁和焦虑症状。数据显示，rs237915基因型与经济特权在对负面面孔的神经反应上存在相互作用。携带C等位基因者随着经济特权的增加，VS激活减少，VS与腹内侧前额叶皮层之间的连接增加。TT纯合子则呈现相反的模式。对负面面孔的VS反应较低预示着社交焦虑增加，但仅针对经济特权较低或携带C等位基因的个体。对于两者兼具的个体，VS反应较低反而与较低的社交焦虑相关。研究结果表明，经济特权和OXTR rs237915基因型可能会对社会动机神经系统产生好坏不同的校准作用。虽然对负面面孔的VS反应较低通常可能构成社交焦虑的一个风险因素，但对社会线索的较低反应可能对具有双重风险的个体有益。
