Cognitive and emotional empathy after stimulation of brain mineralocorticoid and NMDA receptors in patients with major depression and healthy controls

Jan Nowacki, Katja Wingenfeld, Michael Kaczmarczyk, Woo Ri Chae, Ikram Abu-Tir, Christian Eric Deuter, Dominique Piber, Julian Hellmann-Regen, Christian Otte, Jan Nowacki, Katja Wingenfeld, Michael Kaczmarczyk, Woo Ri Chae, Ikram Abu-Tir, Christian Eric Deuter, Dominique Piber, Julian Hellmann-Regen, Christian Otte

Abstract

Mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) are predominantly expressed in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Both brain areas are associated with social cognition, which includes cognitive empathy (ability to understand others' emotions) and emotional empathy (ability to empathize with another person). MR stimulation improves memory and executive functioning in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls, and leads to glutamate-mediated N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) signaling. We examined whether the beneficial effects of MR stimulation can be extended to social cognition (empathy), and whether DCS would have additional beneficial effects. In this double-blind placebo-controlled single-dose study, we randomized 116 unmedicated MDD patients (mean age 34 years, 78% women) and 116 age-, sex-, and education years-matched healthy controls to four conditions: MR stimulation (fludrocortisone (0.4 mg) + placebo), NMDA-R stimulation (placebo + D-cycloserine (250 mg)), MR and NMDA-R stimulation (both drugs), or placebo. Cognitive and emotional empathy were assessed by the Multifaceted Empathy Test. The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03062150). MR stimulation increased cognitive empathy across groups, whereas NMDA-R stimulation decreased cognitive empathy in MDD patients only. Independent of receptor stimulation, cognitive empathy did not differ between groups. Emotional empathy was not affected by MR or NMDA-R stimulation. However, MDD patients showed decreased emotional empathy compared with controls but, according to exploratory analyses, only for positive emotions. We conclude that MR stimulation has beneficial effects on cognitive empathy in MDD patients and healthy controls, whereas NMDA-R stimulation decreased cognitive empathy in MDD patients. It appears that MR rather than NMDA-R are potential treatment targets to modulate cognitive empathy in MDD.

Figures

Fig. 1. Cognitive empathy after MR and…
Fig. 1. Cognitive empathy after MR and NMDA-R stimulation in patients with MDD and healthy controls.
a Cognitive empathy scores were higher across groups after MR stimulation and b lower after NMDA-R stimulation in MDD patients. MET Multifaceted Empathy Test, error bars show standard error (SE), and significant differences are marked (*).
Fig. 2. Emotional empathy after MR and…
Fig. 2. Emotional empathy after MR and NMDA-R stimulation in patients with MDD and healthy controls.
MR stimulation (a) and NMDA-R stimulation (b) had no effect on emotional empathy scores in MDD patients and healthy controls. MET Multifaceted Empathy Test, error bars show standard error (SE).
Fig. 3. Emotional empathy for positive and…
Fig. 3. Emotional empathy for positive and negative emotions in patients with MDD and healthy controls.
Emotional empathy scores were lower in MDD patients compared with healthy controls for positive emotions. MET Multifaceted Empathy Test, error bars show standard error (SE), and significant differences are marked (*).

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