The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 60 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Link between Serotonin-Related Gene Polymorphisms, Amygdala Activity, and Placebo-Induced Relief from Social Anxiety
Open accessAbstract
Placebo may yield beneficial effects that are indistinguishable from those of active medication, but the factors underlying proneness to respond to placebo are widely unknown. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to examine neural correlates of anxiety reduction resulting from sustained placebo treatment under randomized double-blind conditions, in patients with social anxiety disorder. Brain activity was assessed during a stressful public speaking task by means of positron emission tomography before and after an 8 week treatment period. Patients were genotyped with respect to the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and the G-703T polymorphism in the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) gene promoter. Results showed that placebo response was accompanied by reduced stress-related activity in the amygdala, a brain region crucial for emotional processing. However, attenuated amygdala activity was demonstrable only in subjects who were homozygous for the long allele of the 5-HTTLPR or the G variant of the TPH2 G-703T polymorphism, and not in carriers of short or T alleles. Moreover, the TPH2 polymorphism was a significant predictor of clinical placebo response, homozygosity for the G allele being associated with greater improvement in anxiety symptoms. Path analysis supported that the genetic effect on symptomatic improvement with placebo is mediated by its effect on amygdala activity. Hence, our study shows, for the first time, evidence of a link between genetically controlled serotonergic modulation of amygdala activity and placebo-induced anxiety relief.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Elevated SLC6A4 methylation is also associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder, correlates with increased anxiety traits, social anxiety, and amygdala hyperreactivity”
From The clinical use of epigenetics in psychiatry: a narrative review of epigenetic mechanisms, key candidate genes, and precision psychiatry (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,845
(1998) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · Cited by 19,139
Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain
Talairach, J., & Tournoux, P. (1988) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 11,798
(1998) · PubMed · Cited by 10,216
Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach
Friston, K. J., Holmes, A. P., Worsley, K. J., Poline, J. ‐., Frith, C. D., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (1994) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.460020402 · Cited by 9,688
The mini international neuropsychiatric interview
Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, D. V., Hergueta, T., & Weiller, E. (1998) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0924-9338(99)80239-9 · Cited by 5,899
Maldjian, J. A., Laurienti, P. J., Kraft, R., & Burdette, J. H. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00169-1 · Cited by 5,066
Mattick, R. P., & Clarke, J. C. (1998) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(97)10031-6 · Cited by 3,367
Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala.
Hariri, A. R., Mattay, V. S., Tessitore, A., Kolachana, B., Fera, F., Goldman, D., Egan, M. F., & Weinberger, D. R. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1071829 · Cited by 2,340
Liebowitz, M. R. (2015) · Modern Trends in Pharmacopsychiatry · doi:10.1159/000414022 · Cited by 2,266
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Raftery AE (1993) in Testing structural equation models, Bayesian model selection in structural equation models, eds Bollen KA Long JS (Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA), pp 163–180.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–209 of 209
Recent Researches in Sports Science
Dancs, H., Mike, H., Alfonso, P.-T., Gaillard, J., Kar, B. D. P., Intézet, S., Szombathely, S. I. –., Egyetem, N.-M., & Művészeti, N. É. S. K. (2020)
Man: An Underdeveloped Computer?
Gründer, G. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-64225-2_4
Perspectives on Neuroscience and Behavior
(2009) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/1073858409338133
Implications of Placebos and Nocebos in Clinical Research
Colloca, L., & Haycock, N. R. (2019) · Headache · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02976-0_10
La respuesta placebo en el consumo de cocaína: una revisión sistemática
Rueda, E., & Navarro, J. F. (2022) · Psiquiatría Biológica · doi:10.1016/j.psiq.2022.100370
New translational opportunities for placebo research
Alter, B., Leibowitz, K. A., Crum, A. J., & Peciña, M. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med/9780197645444.003.0003
Rodriguez, M. E. F., Richter, H. E., Carnes, M. U., Zyczynski, H. M., Lukacz, E. S., Visco, A. G., Arya, L. A., Sung, V. W., Mazloomdoost, D., Gantz, M. G., et al. (2025) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2025.03.007
Neurobiological footprints of suicide: in relation to molecular genetics, and functional genomics
Kundu, S. R., & Sarkar, J. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-33112-1.00011-2
Quesada, C. (2018) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/fe7c32d5z5575z4df5z8fa0zdb29dd30171e
Metadata
- Authors
- Furmark, T., Appel, L., Henningsson, S., Åhs, F., Faria, V., Linnman, C., Pissiota, A., Frans, Ö., Bani, M., Bettica, P., Pich, E. M., Jacobsson, E., Wahlstedt, K., Oreland, L., Långström, B., Eriksson, E., & Fredrikson, M.
- Affiliations
- Uppsala University (SE)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
- GlaxoSmithKline (Italy) (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Furmark, Tomas
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2008-12-03
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 49
- Pages
- 13066-13074
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6671592
- OpenAlex
- W2161011520
- Cited by
- 210
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 7.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- placebo response, social anxiety disorder, serotonin, 5-HTTLPR, tryptophan hydroxylase 2, amygdala activity, genetic polymorphism, public speaking stress, serotonergic modulation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amygdala, Anxiety Disorders, DNA Mutational Analysis, Double-Blind Method, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Testing, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Polymorphism, Genetic, Serotonin, Stress, Psychological, Tryptophan Hydroxylase, Placebo Effect, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Positron-Emission Tomography, Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
