Effects of oxytocin pathway gene polymorphisms and adverse childhood experiences on emotion recognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders

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OBJECTIVE

To study a role of the interaction of oxytocin pathway gene polymorphisms and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in facial emotion recognition (FER) deficits in schizophrenia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (n=699) completed cognitive testing, which included a FER task. We determined patients’ genotypes for common polymorphisms in three of the oxytocin pathway genes which were previously associated with face perception: OXTR (rs53576, rs7632287), CD38 (rs3796863) and ARNT2 (rs4778599). The presence of ACE in the patient’s history was assessed via an analysis of medical records.

RESULTS

In our sample, 49% of participants experienced ACE. ANCOVA adjusted for age and gender revealed a significant interaction effect of OXTR rs53576 with ACE on FER scores (F=11.51; p<0.001; η²_p=0.02). The effect remained significant when accounting for cognitive functioning and negative symptoms. Carriers of the A allele without ACE recognized emotions worse than GG homozygotes without ACE (p=0.039) and carriers of the A allele with ACE (p=0.009).

CONCLUSION

The results are consistent with the notion of the A (rs53576) allele’s role in sensitivity to childhood experiences that influence the psychosocial development and can be used in further studies of the oxytocin treatment of social cognition and social adaptation of patients with schizophrenia.

Keywords:

schizophrenia

facial affect recognition

oxytocin

gene

polymorphism

adverse childhood experiences

genotype-environment interactions

Authors:

Alfimova M.V.

Mental Health Research Center;
Alexeev Mental-Health Clinical Hospital No. 1, Moscow Healthcare Department

ORCID: 0000-0003-0155-8412

Mikhailova V.A.

Mental Health Research Center

ORCID: 0000-0002-1728-3276

Gabaeva M.V.

Mental Health Research Center

ORCID: 0000-0002-0518-8001

Plakunova V.V.

Mental Health Research Center

ORCID: 0000-0001-8690-5422

Lezheiko T.V.

Mental Health Research Center

ORCID: 0000-0002-7873-2039

Golimbet V.E.

Mental Health Research Center;
Alexeev Mental-Health Clinical Hospital No. 1, Moscow Healthcare Department

ORCID: 0000-0002-9960-7114

Received:

09.03.2023

Accepted:

20.06.2023

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