Squarcina Letizia, Delvecchio Giuseppe, Nobile Maria, Mauri Maddalena, Madonna Domenico, Bonivento Carolina, Garzitto Marco, Piccin Sara, Molteni Massimo, Tomasino Barbara, Bressi Cinzia, Fabbro Franco, Stanley Jeffrey A, Brambilla Paolo
Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Front Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 5;10:763. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00763. eCollection 2019.
Despite various advances in the study of the neurobiological underpinnings of personality traits, the specific neural correlates associated with character and temperament traits are not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by exploring the biochemical basis of personality, which is explored with the temperament and character inventory (TCI), during brain development in a sample of adolescents. Twenty-six healthy adolescents (aged between 13 and 21 years; 17 males and 9 females) with behavioral and emotional problems underwent a TCI evaluation and a 3T single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H MRS) acquisition of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Absolute metabolite levels were estimated using LCModel: significant correlations between metabolite levels and selective TCI scales were identified. Specifically, phosphocreatine plus creatine (PCr+Cre) significantly correlated with self-directedness, positively, and with a self-transcendence (ST), negatively, while glycerophosphocholine plus phosphocholine (GPC+PC) and myo-inositol negatively correlated with ST. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting associations of brain metabolites with personality traits in adolescents. Therefore, our results represent a step forward for personality neuroscience within the study of biochemical systems and brain structures.
尽管在人格特质的神经生物学基础研究方面取得了各种进展，但与性格和气质特质相关的具体神经关联尚未完全明确。因此，本研究旨在通过在青少年样本的大脑发育过程中，利用气质和性格量表（TCI）探索人格的生化基础，来填补这一空白。26名有行为和情绪问题的健康青少年（年龄在13至21岁之间；17名男性和9名女性）接受了TCI评估以及前扣带回皮质（ACC）的3T单体素质子磁共振波谱（H MRS）采集。使用LCModel估算代谢物的绝对水平：确定了代谢物水平与选择性TCI量表之间的显著相关性。具体而言，磷酸肌酸加肌酸（PCr+Cre）与自我导向呈显著正相关，与自我超越（ST）呈显著负相关，而甘油磷酸胆碱加磷酸胆碱（GPC+PC）和肌醇与ST呈负相关。据我们所知，这是第一项报道青少年大脑代谢物与人格特质之间关联的研究。因此，我们的研究结果在生化系统和脑结构研究中为人格神经科学向前迈出了一步。
