Salomaa, M. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

Aberrant type 2 dopamine receptor availability in criminal psychopathy

BackgroundPsychopathy is characterized by antisocial behavior, poor behavioral control and lacking empathy, and structural alterations in the corresponding neural circuits. Molecular brain basis of psychopathy remains poorly characterized. MethodsHere we studied type 2 dopamine receptor (D2R) and mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability in convicted violent offenders with high psychopathic traits (n=11) and healthy matched controls (n=19) using positron emission tomography (PET). D2R were measured with radioligand [11C]raclopride and MORs with radioligand [11C]carfentanil. ResultsPsychopathic subjects had lowered D2R availability in caudate and putamen, and D2R striatal availability was also associated with degree of psychopathic traits in this prisoner sample. No group differences were found in MOR availability, although in the prisoner sample, psychopathic traits were negatively correlated with MOR availability amygdala and nucleus accumbens. ConclusionsWe conclude that D2R signaling could be the putative neuromolecular pathway for psychopathy, whereas evidence for the aberrant MOR system is more limited.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Aberrant motor contagion of emotions in psychopathy and high-functioning autism

Psychopathy and autism are both associated with aberrant social interaction and communication, yet only psychopaths are markedly antisocial and violent. Here we compared the functional neural alterations underlying these two different phenotypes with distinct patterns of socioemotional difficulties. We studied 19 incarcerated male offenders with high psychopathic traits, 20 males with high-functioning autism and 19 age-matched healthy controls. All groups underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they viewed dynamic happy, angry and disgust facial expressions or listened to laughter and crying sounds. Psychopathy was associated with reduced somatomotor responses to almost all expressions, while subjects with autism demonstrated less marked and emotion-specific alterations in the somatomotor area. These data suggest that psychopathy and autism involve both common and distinct functional alterations in the brain networks involved in socioemotional processing.

neuroscience↗