Neural responses in the pain matrix when observing pain of others are unaffected by testosterone administration in women

Sarah J. Heany; David Terburg; Dan J. Stein; Jack van Honk; Peter A. Bos

doi:10.1007/s00221-020-05749-3

Neural responses in the pain matrix when observing pain of others are unaffected by testosterone administration in women

Sarah J. Heany, David Terburg, Dan J. Stein, Jack van Honk, Peter A. Bos^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Cape Town

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

There is evidence of testosterone having deteriorating effects on cognitive and affective empathic behaviour in men and women under varying conditions. However, whether testosterone influences empathy for pain has not yet been investigated. Therefore, we tested neural responses to witnessing others in pain in a within-subject placebo-controlled testosterone administration study in healthy young women. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we provide affirming evidence that an empathy-inducing paradigm causes changes in the activity throughout the pain circuitry, including the bilateral insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Administration of testosterone, however, did not influence these activation patterns in the pain matrix. Testosterone has thus downregulating effects on aspects of empathic behaviour, but based on these data does not seem to influence neural responses during empathy for others’ pain. This finding gives more insight into the role of testosterone in human empathy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	751-759
Number of pages	9
Journal	Experimental Brain Research
Volume	238
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05749-3
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The work in this paper was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Society of Scientific Research to PAB (451-14-015), to DT (451-13-004) and to JvH (056-24-010). DJS is supported by the Medical Research Council of South Africa has received research grants and/or consultancy honoraria from Abbott, Astrazeneca, Eli-Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Orion, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Roche, Servier, Solvay, Sumitomo, Takeda, Tikvah, and Wyeth. SH is supported by Postgraduate Funding Office of UCT, and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF). The funding sources had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).

Funding

The work in this paper was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Society of Scientific Research to PAB (451-14-015), to DT (451-13-004) and to JvH (056-24-010). DJS is supported by the Medical Research Council of South Africa has received research grants and/or consultancy honoraria from Abbott, Astrazeneca, Eli-Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Orion, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Roche, Servier, Solvay, Sumitomo, Takeda, Tikvah, and Wyeth. SH is supported by Postgraduate Funding Office of UCT, and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF). The funding sources had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Keywords

Affective empathy
Distress
Empathy
fMRI
Hormones

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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abstract = "There is evidence of testosterone having deteriorating effects on cognitive and affective empathic behaviour in men and women under varying conditions. However, whether testosterone influences empathy for pain has not yet been investigated. Therefore, we tested neural responses to witnessing others in pain in a within-subject placebo-controlled testosterone administration study in healthy young women. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we provide affirming evidence that an empathy-inducing paradigm causes changes in the activity throughout the pain circuitry, including the bilateral insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Administration of testosterone, however, did not influence these activation patterns in the pain matrix. Testosterone has thus downregulating effects on aspects of empathic behaviour, but based on these data does not seem to influence neural responses during empathy for others{\textquoteright} pain. This finding gives more insight into the role of testosterone in human empathy.",

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Neural responses in the pain matrix when observing pain of others are unaffected by testosterone administration in women

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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