Trait Openness and serotonin 2A receptors in healthy volunteers: A positron emission tomography study

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.

Common HTR2A variants and 5‐HTTLPR are not associated with human in vivo serotonin 2A receptor levels

“…Additional information on CIMBI database inclusion criteria are detailed in (Knudsen et al, 2016). A largely overlapping dataset was recently utilized by Stenbaek et al, 2019) to assess the impact of openness, a specific personality trait, on 5‐HT2AR binding. Erritzoe et al (2009) previously assessed one HTR2A SNP (rs6311, in perfect LD with rs6313) in a subset ( n = 95) of the data presented here.…”

“…As recently detailed by Stenbaek et al (2019), [ 18 F]altanserin and [ 11 C]Cimbi‐36 were synthesized according to Lemaire, Cantineau, Guillaume, Plenevaux, and Christiaens (1991) and Ettrup et al (2014), respectively. All PET scans were acquired using either an 18‐ring GE‐Advance scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, n = 142 [ 18 F]altanserin) or a Siemens ECAT High Resolution Research Tomograph (HRRT, CTI/Siemens, Knoxville, TN, n = 12/43 [ 18 F]altanserin/[ 11 C]Cimbi‐36).…”

“…MRI scans were acquired using either a Siemens 1.5 T Vision scanner (Erlangen, DE, n = 63 [ 18 F]altanserin), a Siemens 3 T Magnetom Trio scanner ( n = 91 [ 18 F]altanserin), a Siemens 3 T Magnetom Verio scanner ( n = 21 [ 11 C]Cimbi‐36) or a Siemens 3 T Prisma scanner ( n = 22 [ 11 C]Cimbi‐36) (Knudsen et al, 2016). See previous publications for scan protocol details (Ettrup et al, 2014; Madsen et al, 2019; Stenbaek et al, 2019).…”

“…As recently detailed by Stenbaek et al (2019) Cimbi-36 were synthesized according to Lemaire, Cantineau, Guillaume, Plenevaux, and Christiaens (1991) and Ettrup et al (2014) (Knudsen et al, 2016). [ 18 F]altanserin scans were performed as detailed by Pinborg et al (2003), using a bolus plus infusion radioligand administration scheme.…”

“…(Knudsen et al, 2016). See previous publications for scan protocol details (Ettrup et al, 2014;Madsen et al, 2019;Stenbaek et al, 2019).…”