Using a Psychopharmacogenetic Approach To Identify the Pathways Through Which-and the People for Whom-Testosterone Promotes Aggression

Psychological Science
Shawn N GenioleJustin M Carré

Abstract

Little is known about the neurobiological pathways through which testosterone promotes aggression or about the people in whom this effect is observed. Using a psychopharmacogenetic approach, we found that testosterone increases aggression in men ( N = 308) with select personality profiles and that these effects are further enhanced among those with fewer cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeats in exon 1 of the androgen receptor (AR) gene, a polymorphism associated with increased AR efficiency. Testosterone's effects were rapid (~30 min after administration) and mediated, in part, by subjective reward associated with aggression. Testosterone thus appears to promote human aggression through an AR-related mechanism and to have stronger effects in men with the select personality profiles because it more strongly upregulates the subjective pleasure they derive from aggression. Given other evidence that testosterone regulates reward through dopaminergic pathways, and that the sensitivity of such pathways is enhanced among individuals with the personality profiles we identified, our findings may also implicate dopaminergic processes in testosterone's heterogeneous effects on aggression.

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Citations

May 30, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Shawn N GenioleJustin M Carré
Jul 14, 2020·Andrology·Michael Zitzmann
Sep 8, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Alex A Straftis, Peter B Gray
Oct 21, 2018·Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology·Brian M BirdNeil V Watson
Nov 13, 2020·Current Psychiatry Reports·Katja BertschSabine C Herpertz
Feb 24, 2021·Drug and Alcohol Dependence·Lisa E HaugerAstrid Bjørnebekk
Apr 10, 2021·Psychoneuroendocrinology·Hana H KutlikovaBettina Studer
Jul 8, 2021·Human Nature : an Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective·Kathleen V CastoMark W Bruner
Oct 29, 2021·Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity·Razieh ChegeniDominic Sagoe

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
electrophoresis
blood draws

Software Mentioned

robustbase
GenioleOpenPracticesDisclosure
GenioleSupplementalMaterial
R
Gene ImagIR

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