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The serotonin gene 5-HTTLPR and brain food-reward responses during sadness: a mood-induction neuroimaging study

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: High-calorie foods become particularly rewarding and difficult to resist under affective stressful circumstances. Individuals carrying the short allele variant of the serotonin transporter gene (s-allele 5-HTTLPR) often exhibit enhanced emotional and neuroendocrine stress responsiveness, which increases their risk to gain weight or to develop obesity. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether homozygous S-allele 5-HTTLPR carriers are more sensitive to the rewarding effects of high- compared to low-calorie foods during sad mood. METHODS: From a large (n = 827) DNA 5-HTTLPR database, a selected subgroup of homozygous S-allele and L-allele carriers were monitored for affective-motivational (mood, wanting-liking) and neural (fMRI) food-reward responsiveness during a food exposure task, before and after sad mood induction. Brain responsiveness was measured for high versus low calorie food pictures in a set of appetitive- and cognitive control ROIs, respectively. RESULTS: Mood induction significantly increased sad mood in the majority of participants. Analyses revealed a genotype x mood induction interaction in cognitive control but not in affective ROIs. LL- compared to SS-carriers exhibited greater contrast value in the inferior frontal sulcus, dorsolateral PFC and superior parietal lob when viewing high- compared to low-calorie food pictures, which only in LL-genotypes significantly declined after sad mood induction. CONCLUSION: LL- compared to SS-genotypes may have stronger high-calorie food responses in cognitive control brain areas in the absence of stress indicating better capacity to resist the rewarding effects of palatable foods.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.05.010
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,790
OpenAlex ID: W4410083838
FWCI:
Cites: 103
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Related to: 10