Testosterone administration modulates neural responses to crying infants in young females
Testosterone administration modulates neural responses to crying infants in young females
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DOI：
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.09.013
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发表时间：
2010-01-01
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
van Honk, Jack
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bos, Peter A.;Hermans, Erno J.;van Honk, Jack
父母对婴儿发声的反应是确保父母照顾的重要机制，其重要性反映在特定的神经基质中，丘脑扣带回回路，该回路通过哺乳动物进化而进化，以辅助这种反应。最近的研究使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）提供了令人信服的证据，通过显示丘脑扣带回对婴儿哭泣的反应，证明人类存在类似的机制。此外，可能作用于这种共同的神经基质，类固醇激素，如雌二醇和睾酮，似乎介导人类和其他动物的父母行为。雌二醇无疑增加了父母的照顾，而睾酮的数据则不那么明确。在人类和其他几种动物中，父母的睾丸激素水平都会下降。然而，小鼠体内的外源性睾丸激素似乎会增加养育子女的能力，婴儿的哭声会导致人类配偶体内睾丸激素水平的升高。不仅睾丸激素参与父母反应的方式尚未解决，而且其潜在机制也完全未知。因此，我们使用fMRI，在一项双盲、安慰剂对照、平衡睾酮给药实验中测量了16名年轻女性聆听婴儿哭声的神经反应。至关重要的是，与安慰剂相比，在睾丸激素条件下，丘脑扣带区、小脑和小脑在对哭泣的反应中表现出更高的激活。我们的研究结果，通过控制激素的操纵证实了丘脑扣带回回路在婴儿哭声感知中的作用。此外，数据还表明，外源性睾酮，本身或通过其代谢产物雌二醇的方式，在我们的年轻女性组中，作用于丘脑环回路，暂时，上调父母的照顾。(c)2009爱思唯尔有限公司版权所有。
Parental responsiveness to infant vocalizations is an essential mechanism to ensure parental care, and its importance is reflected in a specific neural substrate, the thalamocingulate circuit, which evolved through mammalian evolution subserving this responsiveness. Recent studies using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) provide compelling evidence for a comparable mechanism in humans by showing thalamocingulate responses to infant crying. Furthermore, possibly acting on this common neural substrate, steroid hormones such as estradiol and testosterone, seem to mediate parental behavior both in humans and other animals. Estradiol unmistakably increases parental care, while data for testosterone are less unequivocal. In humans and several other animals, testosterone levels decrease both in mothers and fathers during parenthood. However, exogenous testosterone in mice seems to increase parenting, and infant crying leads to heightened testosterone levels in human mates. Not only is the way in which testosterone is implicated in parental responsiveness unresolved, but the underlying mechanisms are fully unknown. Accordingly, using fMRI, we measured neural responses of 16 young women who were listening to crying infants in a double blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced, testosterone administration experiment. Crucially, heightened activation in the testosterone condition compared to placebo was shown in the thalamocingulate region, insula, and the cerebellum in response to crying. Our results by controlled hormonal manipulation confirm a role of the thalamocingulate circuit in infant cry perception. Furthermore, the data also suggest that exogenous testosterone, by itself or by way of its metabolite estradiol, in our group of young women acted on this thalamocinculate circuit to, provisionally, upregulate parental care. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.