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Geniole SN, Bird BM, McVittie JS, Purcell RB, Archer J, Carré JM. Is testosterone linked to human aggression? A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between baseline, dynamic, and manipulated testosterone on human aggression. Horm Behav 2020; 123:104644. [PMID: 31785281 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Testosterone is often considered a critical regulator of aggressive behaviour. There is castration/replacement evidence that testosterone indeed drives aggression in some species, but causal evidence in humans is generally lacking and/or-for the few studies that have pharmacologically manipulated testosterone concentrations-inconsistent. More often researchers have examined differences in baseline testosterone concentrations between groups known to differ in aggressiveness (e.g., violent vs non-violent criminals) or within a given sample using a correlational approach. Nevertheless, testosterone is not static but instead fluctuates in response to cues of challenge in the environment, and these challenge-induced fluctuations may more strongly regulate situation-specific aggressive behaviour. Here, we quantitatively summarize literature from all three approaches (baseline, change, and manipulation), providing the most comprehensive meta-analysis of these testosterone-aggression associations/effects in humans to date. Baseline testosterone shared a weak but significant association with aggression (r = 0.054, 95% CIs [0.028, 0.080]), an effect that was stronger and significant in men (r = 0.071, 95% CIs [0.041, 0.101]), but not women (r = 0.002, 95% CIs [-0.041, 0.044]). Changes in T were positively correlated with aggression (r = 0.108, 95% CIs [0.041, 0.174]), an effect that was also stronger and significant in men (r = 0.162, 95% CIs [0.076, 0.246]), but not women (r = 0.010, 95% CIs [-0.090, 0.109]). The causal effects of testosterone on human aggression were weaker yet, and not statistically significant (r = 0.046, 95% CIs [-0.015, 0.108]). We discuss the multiple moderators identified here (e.g., offender status of samples, sex) and elsewhere that may explain these generally weak effects. We also offer suggestions regarding methodology and sample sizes to best capture these associations in future work.
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Affiliation(s)
- S N Geniole
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Dr. North Bay, ON P1B8L7, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Rd, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada; Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1160, Vienna, Austria
| | - B M Bird
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - J S McVittie
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Dr. North Bay, ON P1B8L7, Canada
| | - R B Purcell
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Dr. North Bay, ON P1B8L7, Canada
| | - J Archer
- School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE, UK
| | - J M Carré
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Dr. North Bay, ON P1B8L7, Canada.
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Corral-Frías NS, Pizzagalli DA, Carré JM, Michalski LJ, Nikolova YS, Perlis RH, Fagerness J, Lee MR, Conley ED, Lancaster TM, Haddad S, Wolf A, Smoller JW, Hariri AR, Bogdan R. COMT Val(158) Met genotype is associated with reward learning: a replication study and meta-analysis. Genes Brain Behav 2017; 15:503-13. [PMID: 27138112 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2016] [Revised: 03/25/2016] [Accepted: 04/14/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Identifying mechanisms through which individual differences in reward learning emerge offers an opportunity to understand both a fundamental form of adaptive responding as well as etiological pathways through which aberrant reward learning may contribute to maladaptive behaviors and psychopathology. One candidate mechanism through which individual differences in reward learning may emerge is variability in dopaminergic reinforcement signaling. A common functional polymorphism within the catechol-O-methyl transferase gene (COMT; rs4680, Val(158) Met) has been linked to reward learning, where homozygosity for the Met allele (linked to heightened prefrontal dopamine function and decreased dopamine synthesis in the midbrain) has been associated with relatively increased reward learning. Here, we used a probabilistic reward learning task to asses response bias, a behavioral form of reward learning, across three separate samples that were combined for analyses (age: 21.80 ± 3.95; n = 392; 268 female; European-American: n = 208). We replicate prior reports that COMT rs4680 Met allele homozygosity is associated with increased reward learning in European-American participants (β = 0.20, t = 2.75, P < 0.01; ΔR(2) = 0.04). Moreover, a meta-analysis of 4 studies, including the current one, confirmed the association between COMT rs4680 genotype and reward learning (95% CI -0.11 to -0.03; z = 3.2; P < 0.01). These results suggest that variability in dopamine signaling associated with COMT rs4680 influences individual differences in reward which may potentially contribute to psychopathology characterized by reward dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- N S Corral-Frías
- Psychiatry Department, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.,BRAIN Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - D A Pizzagalli
- Center For Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research and Neuroimaging Center, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - J M Carré
- Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario, Canada
| | - L J Michalski
- BRAIN Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Y S Nikolova
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - R H Perlis
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - J Fagerness
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - M R Lee
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - T M Lancaster
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - S Haddad
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - A Wolf
- Department of Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - J W Smoller
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - A R Hariri
- Laboratory of NeuroGenetics, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - R Bogdan
- BRAIN Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Nakandakare ER, Garcia RC, Carré JM, Zerbinatti CV, Oliveira HC, Quintão EC. [Effects of lovastatin in primary hypercholesterolemia]. Arq Bras Cardiol 1989; 52:291-5. [PMID: 2690785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Lovastatin, a potent inhibitor of the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme-A-reductase, was investigated in a placebo-controlled trial of 26 primary hypercholesterolemic subjects. Drug dosage varied from 20 to 40 mg/d in a single dose on a 12 weeks treatment period. Average plasma cholesterol reduction levels were 17 and 31%, and LDL-cholesterol 24 and 41% on 20 and 40 mg/d respectively. High-density lipoprotein and triglycerides levels did not change significantly. Similar mean decreases in total plasma cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were observed in hypercholesterolemics irrespectively of being of familial origin or not. No serious clinical and laboratory abnormalities were observed. In this study, lovastatin was a well tolerated and effective agent for the treatment of non familial and heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.
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