Abstract
Empathy is an important driver of human social behaviors and presents genetic roots that have been studied in neuroimaging using the intermediate phenotype approach. Notably, the Val66Met polymorphism of the Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene has been identified as a potential target in neuroimaging studies based on its influence on emotion perception and social cognition, but its impact on self-reported empathy has never been documented. Using a neurogenetic approach, we investigated the association between the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and self-reported empathy (Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index; IRI) in a sample of 110 young adults. Our results indicate that the BDNF genotype is significantly associated with the linear combination of the four facets of the IRI, one of the most widely used self-reported empathy questionnaire. Crucially, the effect of BDNF Val66Met goes beyond the variance explained by two polymorphisms of the oxytocin transporter gene previously associated with empathy and its neural underpinnings (OXTR rs53576 and rs2254298). These results represent the first evidence suggesting a link between the BDNF gene and self-reported empathy and warrant further studies of this polymorphism due to its potential clinical significance.
Highlights
Social interactions are tightly linked to survival, so much so that the complexity of social environments has been proposed as one of the main factors driving the increasing size of primates’ brains across evolution [1]
We hypothesized that Met participants of the Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism would report less self-reported empathy than Val/Val participants and that the A allele of both oxytocin receptor (OXTR) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) would be associated with less selfreported empathy
The BDNF genotype presented no association with either the rs53576 (φ = .062 p = .52) or the rs2254298 (φ = .069 p = .47) polymorphisms, but the two OXTRs SNPs presented a weak negative association (φ = -.267 p = .005), which represent a certain linkage disequilibrium These results indicates that participants of one of the two groups on the first SNP were more likely to be in the other group on the second SNP
Summary
Social interactions are tightly linked to survival, so much so that the complexity of social environments has been proposed as one of the main factors driving the increasing size of primates’ brains across evolution [1]. Met allele carriers have been shown to present greater attention biases to social threats, as well as increased connectivity between the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex [28] This polymorphism has been linked to three effects in BDNF signalling: (1) a decreased concentration of pro-BDNF in dendrites (2) a decreased level of pro-BDNF in the secretory granules and (3) a decreased secretion of the molecule in the synaptic cleft [29,30,31]. We hypothesized that this increased reactivity of social perceptive processes in Met allele carriers might lead to altered self-reported empathy To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on one of the most commonly used self-reported measure of empathy, the IRI [18]. We hypothesized that Met participants of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism would report less self-reported empathy than Val/Val participants and that the A allele of both OXTR SNPs would be associated with less selfreported empathy
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