Oxytocin （OXT）, a posterior pituitary hormone, is involved in uterine contraction and parturition. OXT is also associated with social bonding and attachment. Recent studies have shown that oxytocin receptor（ OXTR） gene polymorphisms affect social behavior. We previously showed that a decreased frequency of laughter was associated with low physical activity and living without a spouse. We speculated that these social behaviors are related to OXT/OXTR signal dysfunction. Here, we examined the association between OXTR gene polymorphisms and the frequency of laughter in the Yamagata cohort. This study included 2042 subjects aged ≥ 40 years who underwent an annual health check-up conducted in Yamagata Prefecture. A total of 53 SNPs of the OXTR gene were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, dyslipidemia, smoking, and marital status identified variant rs918316 in OXTR as a genetic risk factor for less frequent laughter. We performed linkage disequilibrium between the 53 SNPs examined in the OXTR gene in the study participants. We did not find any strong linkage disequilibrium relationship between rs918316 and other SNPs. These findings suggest that OXTR polymorphisms may be associated with the frequency of laughter in a general Japanese population, although further studies are still needed.
久下 et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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