Nishina et al.(2018)

Nishina K.（仁科国之）, Takagishi H.（高岸治人）, Fermin A. S. R., Inoue-Murayama M., Takahashi H., Sakagami, M., Yamagishi T.（山岸俊男） (2018).
Association of the oxytocin receptor gene with attitudinal trust: role of amygdala volume.
オキシトシン受容体遺伝子と信頼態度の関連：扁桃体の体積の役割
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13, 1091-1097.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsy075

Previous studies have shown that genetic variations in rs53576, a common variant of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) resulting from a single nucleotide polymorphism involving an adenine (A)/guanine (G) transition, are associated with attitudinal trust in men. However, the pathway from gene to behaviour has not been elucidated. We conducted the present study to determine whether amygdala volume mediates the association between OXTR rs53576 genotypes and attitudinal trust. Our results revealed that the left amygdala volume was significantly smaller in GG men than in AA and AG men, whereas it was significantly smaller in AA and AG women than in GG women. In addition, the left amygdala volume was negatively associated with attitudinal trust in men, whereas there was no such association in women. We also found a significant mediation effect of the left amygdala volume on the association between OXTR rs53576 genotypes and attitudinal trust in men. The results of our study suggest that the left amygdala volume plays a pivotal role in the association between OXTR rs53576 genotypes and attitudinal trust in men.