Neural and behavioral responses to threatening emotion faces in children as a function of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene

作者：Thomason Moriah E^*; Henry Melissa L; Hamilton J Paul; Joormann Jutta; Pine Daniel S; Ernst Monique; Goldman David; Mogg Karin; Bradley Brendan P; Britton Jennifer C; Lindstrom Kara M; Monk Christopher S; Sankin Lindsey S; Louro Hugo M C; Gotlib Ian H

来源：Biological Psychology, 2010, 85(1): 38-44.

DOI：10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.04.009

• Attention
• Emotion
• Children
• Serotonin
• Gene
• fMRI
• 5-HTTLPR
• Adolescence

Recent evidence suggests that a genetic polymorphism in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) mediates stress reactivity in adults. Little is known, however, about this gene-brain association in childhood and adolescence, generally conceptualized as a time of heightened stress reactivity. The present study examines the association between 5-HTTLPR allelic variation and responses to fearful and angry faces presented both sub- and supraliminally in participants, ages 9-17. Behaviorally, carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short (s) allele exhibited significantly greater attentional bias to subliminally presented fear faces than did their long (l)-allele homozygous counterparts. Moreover, s-allele carriers showed greater neural activations to fearful and angry faces than did l-allele homozygotes in various regions of association cortex previously linked to attention control in adults. These results indicate that in children and adolescents, s-allele carriers can be distinguished from l-allele homozygotes on the basis of hypervigilant behavioral and neural processing of negative material.

• 出版日期2010-9