Genetic imaging of the association of oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) polymorphisms with positive maternal parenting
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Well-validated models of maternal behavior in small-brain mammals posit a central role of oxytocin in parenting, by reducing stress and enhancing the reward value of social interactions with offspring. In contrast, human studies are only beginning to gain insights into how oxytocin modulates maternal behavior and affiliation. METHODS: To explore associations between oxytocin receptor genes and maternal parenting behavior in humans, we conducted a genetic imaging study of women selected to exhibit a wide range of observed parenting when their children were 4-6 years old. RESULTS: In response to child stimuli during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), hemodynamic responses in brain regions that mediate affect, reward, and social behavior were significantly correlated with observed positive parenting. Furthermore, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs53576 and rs1042778) in the gene encoding the oxytocin receptor were significantly associated with both positive parenting and hemodynamic responses to child stimuli in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and hippocampus. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to the emerging literature on the role of oxytocin in human social behavior and support the feasibility of tracing biological pathways from genes to neural regions to positive maternal parenting behaviors in humans using genetic imaging methods.
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Mothers with the AA genotype of the OT receptor gene, which has been associated with greater receptor expressions, showed significantly higher levels of positive parenting as well as greater neural responses to images of their own children compared to mothers with the GA and GG genotypes.
“Supporting the importance of OT in the central brain for parenting, mothers with the AA genotype, which has been associated with greater receptor expressions, showed significantly higher levels of positive parenting as well as greater neural responses to images of their own children compared to mothers with the GA and GG genotypes (Michalska et al., 2014).”
From The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans (2016) · cites this paper as Michalska et al., 2014
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References 63 · Cited by 76
- Authors
- Michalska, K. J., Decety, J., Liu, C., Chen, Q., Martz, M. E., Jacob, S., Hipwell, A. E., Lee, S. S., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Waldman, I. D., & Lahey, B. B.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Michalska, Kalina J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 8
- Pages
- 21-21
- ISSN
- 1662-5153 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3909919
- OpenAlex
- W1972960696
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 17.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Brain Research Foundation
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH53554, R01MH053554, MH-53554)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD067185)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- oxytocin receptor gene, OXTR polymorphisms, oxytocin, single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs53576, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, maternal behavior, reward processing, social behavior
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