Endogenous oxytocin levels are associated with the perception of emotion in dynamic body expressions in schizophrenia

Abstract

Lower endogenous oxytocin levels have been associated with impaired social cognition in schizophrenia, particularly facial affect identification. Little is known about the relationship between oxytocin and other forms of emotion perception. In the current study, 41 individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and 22 demographically matched healthy controls (CN) completed a forced-choice affective body expression classification task. Stimuli included dynamic videos of male and female actors portraying 4 discrete emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, and neutral. Plasma oxytocin levels were determined via radioimmunoassay. Results indicated that SZ had significantly higher plasma oxytocin concentrations than CN. SZ were also less accurate at identifying expressions of happiness and sadness; however, there were no group differences for anger or neutral stimuli. A group x sex interaction was also present, such that female CN were more accurate than male CN, whereas male SZ were more accurate than female SZ. Higher endogenous oxytocin levels were associated with better total recognition in both SZ and CN; this association was specific to females in SZ. Findings indicate that sex plays an important role in identifying emotional expressions in body gestures in SZ, and that individual differences in endogenous oxytocin predict emotion perception accuracy.

Sex/gender differences in the brain and cognition in schizophrenia

“…The results revealed that patients were less accurate at identifying emotions than controls and that they had significantly higher plasma oxytocin, which was positively correlated with task performance in both patients and controls. Importantly for our discussion there was a significant group-by-sex interaction, such that control women were more accurate than control men, whereas schizophrenia women were less accurate than schizophrenia men [191]. We have obtained comparable brain activation results in the fMRI studies of emotional memory discussed in the subsequent section.…”

“…Second, consistently with the neuroanatomical sex differences, the cognitive behavioral studies reveal that in chronic schizophrenia, men present with more Page 41 of 59 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 41 cognitive deficits than women [159][160]. Furthermore, while studies of cognitive processes mediated by the lateral frontal cortex and fronto-parietal network, tend to show typical sexual dimorphism [174,195], the studies of processes mediated by the corticolimbic system, more frequently show reversal of normal sexual dimorphisms [176][177]191]. Finally, the cognitive neuroimaging studies support a disturbance of normal sexual dimorphism in schizophrenia, but they are scarce and difficult to interpret [175,196,241].…”

“…In addition to chronicity, the early versus late onset needs to be carefully investigated, as a few studies have already suggested that cognitive profiles may depend on illness onset, particularly in women [167,194]. Second, the studies of "cool" cognitive processes, mediated by the lateral frontal cortex and fronto-parietal network, tend to show typical sexual dimorphism in schizophrenia [174,195], while the studies of "hot" cognitive processes, mediated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, more frequently show reversal of normal sexual dimorphisms [176,191]. The latter results are consistent with neuroanatomical studies showing reversal of normal sexual dimorphism in schizophrenia in the anterior cingulate, the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala [143,151].…”

Sex and Diagnosis-Specific Associations Between DNA Methylation of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene With Emotion Processing and Temporal-Limbic and Prefrontal Brain Volumes in Psychotic Disorders

“…Epigenetic alteration of genes regulating OT receptor ( OXTR ) expression may be one factor influencing social cognition deficits in psychotic disorders. This effect may be greater in schizophrenia than in other psychotic disorders because of their more severe social cognition deficits (2), and in females because of the more prominent role of the OT system in women in regulating social cognition (7-9). …”

“…OT peptide levels are altered in psychotic disorders (9-14) and are related to social cognition deficits with more pronounced associations in female patients (7-9). Adjunctive exogenous OT administration can improve social cognition in schizophrenia (15-19).…”