Cited by 354Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuropeptides and Animal Physiology

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Oxytocin pathway gene networks in the human brain

Open access
Quintana, Daniel S., Rokicki, Jaroslav, van der Meer, Dennis, Alnæs, Dag, Kaufmann, Tobias, Córdova-Palomera, Aldo, Dieset, Ingrid, Andreassen, Ole A., Westlye, Lars T.·2019·Nature Communications

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide involved in animal and human reproductive and social behavior. Three oxytocin signaling genes have been frequently implicated in human social behavior: OXT (structural gene for oxytocin), OXTR (oxytocin receptor), and CD38 (oxytocin secretion). Here, we characterized the distribution of OXT , OXTR , and CD38 mRNA across the human brain by creating voxel-by-voxel volumetric expression maps, and identified putative gene pathway interactions by comparing gene expression patterns across 20,737 genes. Expression of the three selected oxytocin pathway genes was enriched in subcortical and olfactory regions and there was high co-expression with several dopaminergic and muscarinic acetylcholine genes, reflecting an anatomical basis for critical gene pathway interactions. fMRI meta-analysis revealed that the oxytocin pathway gene maps correspond with the processing of anticipatory, appetitive, and aversive cognitive states. The oxytocin signaling system may interact with dopaminergic and muscarinic acetylcholine signaling to modulate cognitive state processes involved in complex human behaviors.

Overview

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TL;DR

This study mapped mRNA expression of oxytocin pathway genes (OXT, OXTR, CD38) across the human brain and compared their spatial patterns with all 20,737 protein-coding genes, dopaminergic/cholinergic gene sets, and fMRI-derived cognitive state maps. It reports that OXTR and CD38 are enriched in subcortical/olfactory regions, co-express with dopaminergic and muscarinic acetylcholine genes, and correspond to anticipatory, appetitive, and aversive cognitive states.

Key findings

  • OXTR and CD38 expression was enriched in subcortical and olfactory regions and lower in cerebellum. OXTR was significantly higher than average in olfactory bulbs (p = 0.048, d = 2.1); CD38 was higher in caudate (p = 0.004, d = 4.1), pallidum (p = 0.004, d = 4.6), olfactory bulbs (p = 0.01, d = 3.4), putamen (p = 0.02, d = 2.7), thalamus (p = 0.03, d = 2.1), and anterior cingulate (p = 0.03, d = 2). No brain regions showed significantly higher OXT expression after FDR correction.
  • OXTR and CD38 clustered with DRD2, DRD5, COMT, CHRM4, and CHRM5. A WGCNA module containing OXTR and CD38 (28 genes total) was enriched for waist-hip ratio adjusted for BMI and smoking (p = 1.13 × 10−2), feeding behavior (p = 5.83 × 10−3), cognition (p = 7.44 × 10−3), and behavioral response to stimuli (p = 1.05 × 10−2). The OXTR–CD38 association was significant (p < 0.0001) and in the top 5% of correlations among all 20,737 protein-coding genes.
  • NeuroSynth reverse inference across 14,371 fMRI studies found OXTR expression most correlated with “sexual,” “motivation,” “incentive,” and “anxiety” maps, ranking in the top 0.5% of all 20,737 gene maps (p < 0.001); “taste,” “stress,” “reward,” “monetary,” “fear,” and “emotional” maps were within the top 2.5% (p < 0.001). OXTR (p = 0.0002) and CD38 (p = 0.006) had greater expression in social versus non-social brain regions; OXT did not (p = 0.14).
  • OXTR and CD38 showed high donor-to-donor reproducibility, with differential stability values in the top decile of all 20,737 genes and significant donor-to-donor associations (p < 0.0001). GTEx validation correlated with Allen data for OXTR (rs = 0.81, p = 0.01) and CD38 (rs = 0.67, p = 0.04), but not OXT (rs = 0.22, p = 0.54).

Methods

  • Post-mortem mRNA data came from the Allen Human Brain Atlas: six donor brains (three Caucasian males, one Hispanic female, two African-American males; mean age 42.5 ± 11.2 years; mean post-mortem interval 22.3 ± 4.5 hours), sampled at 363–946 locations per brain. Analyses used left-hemisphere samples, 20,737 protein-coding genes, MNI152 nonlinear registration, and 54 AAL atlas regions; voxel-by-voxel maps were created by Delaunay triangulation and linear interpolation.
  • Independent validation used GTEx data from 10 brain regions (mean sample size 131.7, range 88–173). Analyses included Spearman correlations, complete-linkage clustering, one-sample t-tests with FDR correction across 54 tests, FUMA hypergeometric enrichment, WGCNA (soft-thresholding power 10, scale-free topology R² = 0.828), and NeuroSynth reverse inference with Spearman correlation and 5,000 permutations via PALM.
  • Cognitive state decoding used NeuroSynth release 0.7, extracting text and neuroimaging data from 14,371 fMRI studies; association Z maps were correlated with all 20,737 gene expression maps and ranked.

Limitations

  • Stated: the human post-mortem sample was small and variable in age and ethnicity, with possible variability from brain size and morphology; only one female donor limited comprehensive sex-difference analysis; GTEx has fewer brain sampling sites than Allen; OXT expression was less stable donor-to-donor and not significantly related to GTEx, limiting generalizability for OXT; the study cannot show that increased OXTR transcript expression corresponds to receptor activation during specific cognitive states; several gene–psychiatric disorder links are single-report associations requiring replication.
  • Evident from the design: the work is correlational and cross-sectional, using post-mortem mRNA maps and meta-analytic fMRI associations, so it cannot establish causal or temporal relationships between oxytocin pathway gene expression, dopaminergic/cholinergic signaling, and cognitive states.

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Figures

Fig. 1 Oxytocin pathway gene expression in the human brain. Each point represents mean expression from six donors with standard errors for a given brain region for a OXTR and b CD38. The bolded dashed lines represent mean expression across the all regions with 1 standard deviation (+/−) also shown. Compared to average brain expression, there is increased expression of OXTR and CD38 in central and temporal brain structures, along with the olfactory region. Lower than average expression is observed in the cerebellum. *p < 0.05 (FDR corrected for 54 tests)
Fig. 1 Oxytocin pathway gene expression in the human brain. Each point represents mean expression from six donors with standard errors for a given brain region for a OXTR and b CD38. The bolded dashed lines represent mean expression across the all regions with 1 standard deviation (+/−) also shown. Compared to average brain expression, there is increased expression of OXTR and CD38 in central and temporal brain structures, along with the olfactory region. Lower than average expression is observed in the cerebellum. *p < 0.05 (FDR corrected for 54 tests)CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 2 Expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT in hypothalamic and thalamic substructures. Each point represents mean expression of a OXTR, b CD38, and c OXT with standard errors for a given brain region. The bolded dashed lines represent mean expression across the all regions with 1 standard deviation (+/−) also shown. Z-scores for d OXTR, e CD38, and f OXT expression are also presented in anatomic maps for hypothalamic and thalamic substructures (see Supplementary Fig. 7 for map legend). Substructures with expression more than 1 standard deviation greater than the mean are labeled. DMH: dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, LMH: lateral hypothalamic area (mammillary region), LT: lateral tuberal nucleus, Pa: paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, PR: Preoptic region, SON: supraoptic nucleus, TM: tuberomammillary nucleus, VMH: ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, AN: anterior group of nuclei, DLG: dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, DL: lateral group of nuclei (dorsal division), VL: lateral group of nuclei (ventral division), MG: medial geniculate complex, MN: medial group of nuclei, PG: posterior group of nuclei, RT: reticular nucleus of thalamus. * p < 0.05 (FDR corrected for 16 tests)
Fig. 2 Expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT in hypothalamic and thalamic substructures. Each point represents mean expression of a OXTR, b CD38, and c OXT with standard errors for a given brain region. The bolded dashed lines represent mean expression across the all regions with 1 standard deviation (+/−) also shown. Z-scores for d OXTR, e CD38, and f OXT expression are also presented in anatomic maps for hypothalamic and thalamic substructures (see Supplementary Fig. 7 for map legend). Substructures with expression more than 1 standard deviation greater than the mean are labeled. DMH: dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, LMH: lateral hypothalamic area (mammillary region), LT: lateral tuberal nucleus, Pa: paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, PR: Preoptic region, SON: supraoptic nucleus, TM: tuberomammillary nucleus, VMH: ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, AN: anterior group of nuclei, DLG: dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, DL: lateral group of nuclei (dorsal division), VL: lateral group of nuclei (ventral division), MG: medial geniculate complex, MN: medial group of nuclei, PG: posterior group of nuclei, RT: reticular nucleus of thalamus. * p < 0.05 (FDR corrected for 16 tests)CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 3 Co-expression of selected oxytocin, dopaminergic, muscarinic acetylcholine, vasopressin, and opioid gene sets in the brain. a Co-expression patterning for the expression of selected oxytocin, dopaminergic, muscarinic acetylcholine, vasopressin, and opioid gene sets. The complete linkage method was used to identify 3 clustering groups (black squares). OXTR and CD38 are clustered together, along with DRD2, DRD5, COMT, CHRM4, and CHRM5. b Whole-brain co-expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT with selected vasopressin, muscarinic acetylcholine, and dopaminergic gene sets. Spearman’s correlations are visualized on a density distribution demonstrating all co-expression correlations between the of OXTR, CD38, and OXT and all genes in the complete oxytocinergic (n = 94), cholinergic (n = 79), and dopaminergic (n = 63) gene sets (see Supplementary Data 1 for full lists). c Cortex-only co-expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT with selected vasopressin, muscarinic acetylcholine, and dopaminergic gene sets. d Differential expression of the OXTR/CD38 gene sets in 30 tissue types from the GTEx dataset, with -log 10 p-values representing the probability of the hypergeometric test. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05
Fig. 3 Co-expression of selected oxytocin, dopaminergic, muscarinic acetylcholine, vasopressin, and opioid gene sets in the brain. a Co-expression patterning for the expression of selected oxytocin, dopaminergic, muscarinic acetylcholine, vasopressin, and opioid gene sets. The complete linkage method was used to identify 3 clustering groups (black squares). OXTR and CD38 are clustered together, along with DRD2, DRD5, COMT, CHRM4, and CHRM5. b Whole-brain co-expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT with selected vasopressin, muscarinic acetylcholine, and dopaminergic gene sets. Spearman’s correlations are visualized on a density distribution demonstrating all co-expression correlations between the of OXTR, CD38, and OXT and all genes in the complete oxytocinergic (n = 94), cholinergic (n = 79), and dopaminergic (n = 63) gene sets (see Supplementary Data 1 for full lists). c Cortex-only co-expression of OXTR, CD38, and OXT with selected vasopressin, muscarinic acetylcholine, and dopaminergic gene sets. d Differential expression of the OXTR/CD38 gene sets in 30 tissue types from the GTEx dataset, with -log 10 p-values representing the probability of the hypergeometric test. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 4 Co-expression patterns of the full oxytocin signaling pathway. a Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to construct a hierarchical clustering tree (also see Supplementary Fig. 9) and network heatmap plot of gene–gene connectivity of full oxytocin signaling pathway in the brain. Darker red colors represent stronger topological overlap. This analysis identified a module (dark blue) containing both OXTR and CD38 (see Supplementary Fig. 9 and Supplementary Data 1 for a full list of genes and modules). b Differential expression of the OXTR/CD38 module in 30 tissue types from the GTEx dataset, with -log 10 p-values representing the probability of the hypergeometric test. *p < 0.05
Fig. 4 Co-expression patterns of the full oxytocin signaling pathway. a Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to construct a hierarchical clustering tree (also see Supplementary Fig. 9) and network heatmap plot of gene–gene connectivity of full oxytocin signaling pathway in the brain. Darker red colors represent stronger topological overlap. This analysis identified a module (dark blue) containing both OXTR and CD38 (see Supplementary Fig. 9 and Supplementary Data 1 for a full list of genes and modules). b Differential expression of the OXTR/CD38 module in 30 tissue types from the GTEx dataset, with -log 10 p-values representing the probability of the hypergeometric test. *p < 0.05CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 5 Differential stability of protein-coding genes. a Differential stability for all protein coding genes (n = 20,737) was calculated to assess the similarity of gene expression patterns from donor-to-donor. OXTR and CD38 were in the top decile of all genes (ranking in gray boxes), suggesting high reproducibility. Donor-to-donor differential stability was also assessed for b OXTR, c CD38, and d OXT. Each individual association for all three genes were statistically significant, suggesting that gene expression patterns were stable between each donor (ethnicity and sex are presented for each donor). *p < 0.001
Fig. 5 Differential stability of protein-coding genes. a Differential stability for all protein coding genes (n = 20,737) was calculated to assess the similarity of gene expression patterns from donor-to-donor. OXTR and CD38 were in the top decile of all genes (ranking in gray boxes), suggesting high reproducibility. Donor-to-donor differential stability was also assessed for b OXTR, c CD38, and d OXT. Each individual association for all three genes were statistically significant, suggesting that gene expression patterns were stable between each donor (ethnicity and sex are presented for each donor). *p < 0.001CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 6 Voxel-by-voxel brain gene expression maps for OXTR, CD38, and OXT. mRNA expression maps were created using left hemisphere data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas dataset. These maps were submitted to the NeuroSynth framework to assess associations with cognitive state activation maps. SD: standard deviation
Fig. 6 Voxel-by-voxel brain gene expression maps for OXTR, CD38, and OXT. mRNA expression maps were created using left hemisphere data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas dataset. These maps were submitted to the NeuroSynth framework to assess associations with cognitive state activation maps. SD: standard deviationCC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 7 Cognitive state correlates of central oxytocin pathway gene expression patterns. a Cognitive states were meta-analytically decoded from central oxytocin pathway mRNA maps (Fig. 6) using the NeuroSynth framework. The top five strongest relationships for OXTR, CD38, and OXT (Spearman’s r) are shown, with duplicates removed. b The distribution of Spearman’s correlations between each protein coding gene map (n = 20,737) and cognitive state maps. The absolute ranking for each oxytocin pathway gene out of 20,737 correlations are shown (also see Supplementary Table 2). mRNA expression of c OXTR, d CD38, and e OXT in brain regions associated with social and non-social mental states (see Supplementary Data 1 for lists of social and non-social terms)
Fig. 7 Cognitive state correlates of central oxytocin pathway gene expression patterns. a Cognitive states were meta-analytically decoded from central oxytocin pathway mRNA maps (Fig. 6) using the NeuroSynth framework. The top five strongest relationships for OXTR, CD38, and OXT (Spearman’s r) are shown, with duplicates removed. b The distribution of Spearman’s correlations between each protein coding gene map (n = 20,737) and cognitive state maps. The absolute ranking for each oxytocin pathway gene out of 20,737 correlations are shown (also see Supplementary Table 2). mRNA expression of c OXTR, d CD38, and e OXT in brain regions associated with social and non-social mental states (see Supplementary Data 1 for lists of social and non-social terms)CC BY · PubMed Central

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  • It may state two separate claims as one. 28
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 40
62 of 62
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Co-expression of genes across brain regions reflects functional interaction between their signaling systems.

    “reflecting an anatomical basis for critical gene pathway interactions”
    “providing evidence for putative interactions between dopaminergic and muscarinic acetylcholine systems with oxytocin pathway signaling.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The mRNA co-expression of dopaminergic, muscarinic acetylcholine, and other systems with the oxytocin system is not well characterized.

    “However, the mRNA co-expression of these systems, and potentially others, with the oxytocin system is not well characterized.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The six donor brains in the Allen Human Brain Atlas are representative of the general human brain for gene expression mapping.

    “The full dataset of protein coding genes (n = 20,737) from six donor brains were collected from the Allen Human Brain Atlas (http://human.brain-map.org/).”
    “Here, we leveraged the unique human brain mRNA expression library from Allen Brain Atlas to show that mRNA reflecting specific genes in the oxytocin pathway are highly expressed in subcortical and temporal brain structures, along with the olfactory region.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Olfaction is not as important for human conspecific identification compared to most other mammals due to species specialization.

    “as olfaction is not as important for human conspecific identification compared to most other mammals due to species specialization”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Research has not yet demonstrated whether increased OXTR expression in humans is associated with activation of the receptor during specific cognitive states.

    “research is yet to demonstrate whether the increased expression of OXTR (as measured by the presence of its transcript) in humans is associated with the activation of the receptor during specific cognitive states.”
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Metadata

Authors
Quintana, D. S., Rokicki, J., van der Meer, D., Alnæs, D., Kaufmann, T., Córdova-Palomera, A., Dieset, I., Andreassen, O. A., & Westlye, L. T.
Affiliations
Oslo University Hospital (NO)
Corresponding author
Quintana, Daniel S.
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2019-02-08
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
668-668
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2912308393
Cited by
354
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 74 · 2019: 16
FWCI
65.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Novo Nordisk (NNF16OC0019856)
  • Norges Forskningsråd (223273, #249795)
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF16OC0019856)
  • Helse Sør-Øst RHF (#2014-097, 2015-073, 223273, 2017–112)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
Keywords
oxytocin signaling, oxytocin receptor, CD38, gene co-expression network, subcortical structures, olfactory region, dopaminergic signaling, cognitive states, social behavior, reproductive behavior
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, Cognition, Female, Humans, Hypothalamus, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Oxytocin, RNA, Messenger, Receptors, Oxytocin, ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1

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