title: Social memory associated with estrogen receptor polymorphisms in women.
abstract: The ability to recognize the identity of faces and voices is essential for social relationships. Although the heritability of social memory is high, knowledge about the contributing genes is sparse. Since sex differences and rodent studies support an influence of estrogens and androgens on social memory, polymorphisms in the estrogen and androgen receptor genes (ESR1, ESR2, AR) are candidates for this trait. Recognition of faces and vocal sounds, separately and combined, was investigated in 490 subjects, genotyped for 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ESR1, four in ESR2 and one in the AR Four of the associations survived correction for multiple testing: women carrying rare alleles of the three ESR2 SNPs, rs928554, rs1271572 and rs1256030, in linkage disequilibrium with each other, displayed superior face recognition compared with non-carriers. Furthermore, the uncommon genotype of the ESR1 SNP rs2504063 was associated with better recognition of identity through vocal sounds, also specifically in women. This study demonstrates evidence for associations in women between face recognition and variation in ESR2, and recognition of identity through vocal sounds and variation in ESR1. These results suggest that estrogen receptors may regulate social memory function in humans, in line with what has previously been established in mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Henningsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hovey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, and.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zettergren
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jonsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Diana S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Melke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laukka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Håkan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, lars.westberg@pharm.gu.se.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Westberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000235:genetics*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C506487:ESR1 protein, human; C000600034:ESR2 protein, human; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta
keywords: ESR1; ESR2; estrogen; face recognition; social memory