Biological psychiatry
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Biological psychiatry · Oct 2015
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Mediates the Impact of Serotonin Transporter Linked Polymorphic Region Genotype on Anticipatory Threat Reactions.
Excessive anticipatory reactions to potential future adversity are observed across a range of anxiety disorders, but the neurogenetic mechanisms driving interindividual differences are largely unknown. We aimed to discover and validate a gene-brain-behavior pathway by linking presumed genetic risk for anxiety-related psychopathology, key neural activity involved in anxious anticipation, and resulting aversive emotional states. ⋯ The converging results from these experiments demonstrate that innate 5-HTTLPR linked variation in dmPFC activity predicts psychophysiological responsivity to pending threats. Our results reveal a neurogenetic pathway mediating interindividual variability in anticipatory responses to threat and yield a novel mechanistic account for previously reported associations between genetic variability in serotonin transporter function and stress-related psychopathology.
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Biological psychiatry · Oct 2015
High-Dose Testosterone Treatment Increases Serotonin Transporter Binding in Transgender People.
Women are two times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than men. Sex hormones modulating serotonergic transmission are proposed to partly underlie these epidemiologic findings. Here, we used the cross-sex steroid hormone treatment of transsexuals seeking sex reassignment as a model to investigate acute and chronic effects of testosterone and estradiol on serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) binding in female-to-male and male-to-female transsexuals. ⋯ Given the central role of the SERT in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, these findings may lead to new treatment modalities and expand our understanding of the mechanism of action of antidepressant treatment properties.