Trial reportMolecular psychiatry2006
Serotonin transporter gene variation impacts innate fear processing: Acoustic startle response and emotional startle.
Trial report in Molecular psychiatry, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Underlying Mechanisms of Gene-Environment Interactions in Externalizing Behavior: A Systematic Review and Search for Theoretical Mechanisms.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2015Pooled it
- Therapygenetics: anterior cingulate cortex-amygdala coupling is associated with 5-HTTLPR and treatment response in panic disorder with agoraphobia.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2015Trial
- The serotonin transporter gene and startle response during nicotine deprivation.Biological psychology · 2011Trial
- Analysis of Serotonin Transporter GeneInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) variation and sensory processing sensitivity-Comparison with other anxiety-related temperamental dimensions.Molecular genetics & genomic medicine · 2020Article
- Collective interaction effects associated with mammalian behavioral traits reveal genetic factors connecting fear and hemostasis.BMC psychiatry · 2018Article
- Sex differences modulating serotonergic polymorphisms implicated in the mechanistic pathways of risk for depression and related disorders.Journal of neuroscience research · 2017Review
- Genetic influences on the neural and physiological bases of acute threat: A research domain criteria (RDoC) perspective.American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics · 2016Review
- Serotonin, Amygdala and Fear: Assembling the Puzzle.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2016Review
- Short alleles, bigger smiles? The effect of 5-HTTLPR on positive emotional expressions.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2015Article
- Monoamine-sensitive developmental periods impacting adult emotional and cognitive behaviors.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2015Review
- Heritability and molecular genetic basis of acoustic startle eye blink and affectively modulated startle response: a genome-wide association study.Psychophysiology · 2014Article
- Empathy as a "risky strength": a multilevel examination of empathy and risk for internalizing disorders.Development and psychopathology · 2014Review
- Monoamine polygenic liability in health and cocaine dependence: imaging genetics study of aversive processing and associations with depression symptomatology.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2014Article
- 5-HTTLPR modulates the recognition accuracy and exploration of emotional facial expressions.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2014Article
- Article
- The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene moderates the association between emotional behavior and changes in marital satisfaction over time.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2013Article
- The effect of the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) on empathic and self-conscious emotional reactivity.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2013Article
- Article
- Serotonergic modulation of conditioned fear.Scientifica · 2012Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Anxiety-related behaviors are closely linked to neural circuits relaying fear-specific information to the amygdala. Many of these circuits, like those underlying processing of innate fear, are remarkably well understood. Recent imaging studies have contributed to this knowledge by discriminating more detailed corticoamygdalar associations mediating processing fear and anxiety. However, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms. We used the acoustic startle paradigm to investigate the impact of molecular genetic variation of serotonergic function on the acoustic startle response and its fear potentiation. Startle magnitudes to noise bursts as measured with the eye blink response were recorded in 66 healthy volunteers under four conditions: presenting unpleasant and pleasant affective pictures as well as neutral pictures, and presenting the startle stimulus without additional stimuli as a baseline. Subjects were genotyped for functional polymorphism in the transcriptional control region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-hydroxytryptamine transporter gene-linked region: 5-HTTLPR). Analyses of variance revealed a significant effect of 5-HTTLPR on overall startle responses across conditions. Carriers of the short (s) allele exhibited stronger startle responses than l/l homozygotes. However, we could not confirm our hypothesis of enhanced fear potentiation of the startle in s allele carriers. In conclusion, the results provide first evidence that the startle response is sensitive to genetic variation in the serotonin pathway. Despite some issues remaining to be resolved, the startle paradigm may provide a valuable endophenotype of fear processing and underlying serotonergic influences.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.