Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27383377›Full record

Trial reportCognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience2016

Effects of mineralocorticoid receptor blockade on empathy in patients with major depressive disorder.

Katja Wingenfeld, Linn K Kuehl, Isabel Dziobek, Stefan Roepke, Christian Otte, Kim Hinkelmann

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Empathic Accuracy Task: Indian Adaptation and Validation.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2023
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  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Katja WingenfeldDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany. katja.wingenfeld@charite.de.
Linn K KuehlDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany.
Isabel DziobekBerlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Stefan RoepkeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany.
Christian OtteDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany.
Kim HinkelmannDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany.
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin · DEHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is highly expressed in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex and is involved in social cognition. We recently found that pharmacological stimulation of the MR enhances emotional empathy but does not affect cognitive empathy. In the current study, we examined whether blockade of the MR impairs empathy in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy individuals.

methodsIn a placebo-controlled study, we randomized 28 patients with MDD without psychotropic medication and 43 healthy individuals to either placebo or 300 mg spironolactone, a MR antagonist. Subsequently, all participants underwent two tests of social cognition, the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) and the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC), measuring cognitive and emotional facets of empathy.

resultsIn the MET, we found no significant main effect of treatment or main effect of group for cognitive empathy but a highly significant treatment by group interaction (p < 0.01). Patients had higher cognitive empathy scores compared to controls in the placebo condition but not after spironolactone. Furthermore, in the spironolactone condition reduced cognitive empathy was seen in MDD patients but not in controls. Emotional empathy was not affected by MR blockade. In the MASC, no effect of spironolactone could be revealed.

conclusionDepressed patients appear to exhibit greater cognitive empathy compared to healthy individuals. Blockade of MR reduced cognitive empathy in MDD patients to the level of healthy individuals. Future studies should further clarify the impact of MR functioning on different domains of social cognition in psychiatric patients.

Indexed as

AdultAnalysis of VarianceCognitionEmpathyFemaleHumansMajor Depressive DisorderMaleMineralocorticoid Receptor AntagonistsNeuropsychological TestsPsychiatric Status Rating ScalesPsychotropic DrugsReceptors, MineralocorticoidSocial PerceptionSpironolactoneMineralocorticoid Receptor AntagonistsPsychotropic DrugsReceptors, MineralocorticoidSpironolactoneCognitive empathyCortisolEmotional empathyMajor depressive disorderMineralocorticoid receptorSocial cognition

Identifiers

PMID27383377
OpenAlexW2465955338

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.