Trait Openness and serotonin 2A receptors in healthy volunteers: A positron emission tomography study
In 159 healthy volunteers, PET imaging with [18F]altanserin and [11C]Cimbi‑36 showed no significant association between neocortical 5‑HT2A receptor availability and trait Openness (NEO‑PI‑R), and no sex interactions. Thus baseline 5‑HT2A binding does not appear to account for individual differences in Openness despite evidence that 5‑HT2A agonists such as psilocybin can increase the trait.
Authors
- Gitte Knudsen
- Patrick Fisher
- Dea Stenbæk
Published
Abstract
Recent research found lasting increases in personality trait Openness in healthy individuals and patients after administration of the serotonin 2A receptor (5‐HT2AR) agonist psilocybin. However, no studies have investigated whether 5‐HT2AR availability as imaged using positron emission tomography (PET) is associated with this trait. In 159 healthy individuals (53 females), the association between 5‐HT2AR binding in neocortex imaged with [18F]altanserin or [11C]Cimbi‐36 PET and personality trait Openness was investigated using linear regression models. In these models the influence of sex on the association was also investigated. Trait Openness was assessed with the NEO Personality Inventory‐Revised. No significant associations between neocortical 5‐HT2AR binding and trait Openness were found for [18F]altanserin (p = 0.5) or [11C]Cimbi‐36 (p = 0.8). Pooling the data in a combined model did not substantially change our results (p = 0.4). No significant interactions with sex were found (p > 0.35). Our results indicate that differences in 5‐HT2AR availability are not related to variations in trait Openness in healthy individuals. Although stimulation of the 5‐HT2AR with compounds such as psilocybin may contribute to long‐term changes in trait Openness, there is no evidence in favor of an association between 5‐HT2AR and trait Openness.
Research Summary of 'Trait Openness and serotonin 2A receptors in healthy volunteers: A positron emission tomography study'
Introduction
Psilocybin and related serotonergic psychedelics produce profound alterations in perception and meaning, sometimes described as mystical-type experiences, and these effects are primarily mediated by agonism at the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2A R). The 5-HT2A R is an excitatory receptor densely expressed across the cerebral cortex, and its dysfunction has been implicated in psychiatric conditions such as depression and schizophrenia. Prior studies have reported that acute and subacute exposure to psilocybin can produce lasting increases in the personality domain Openness; however, it remained unclear whether individual differences in baseline 5-HT2A R availability in psychedelic‑naïve healthy people are related to trait Openness. Stenbaek and colleagues set out to test whether in vivo neocortical 5-HT2A R availability, measured with PET, is associated with trait Openness. To do so they analysed data from 159 healthy participants who had undergone PET imaging with either the antagonist radioligand [18F]altanserin or the agonist radioligand [11C]Cimbi-36, alongside self-reported NEO PI-R scores for Openness. The study aims to determine whether baseline 5-HT2A R binding correlates with individual variation in Openness, thereby addressing a mechanistic question relevant to how psychedelics may relate to personality change.
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Study Details
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- APA Citation
Stenbæk, D. S., Kristiansen, S., Burmester, D., Madsen, M. K., Frokjaer, V. G., Knudsen, G. M., & Fisher, P. M. (2019). Trait Openness and serotonin 2A receptors in healthy volunteers: A positron emission tomography study. Human Brain Mapping, 40(7), 2117-2124. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24511
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