Variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) is associated with dispositional and neural sensitivity to social rejection.

ABSTRACT: Scientific understanding of social pain--the hurt feelings resulting from social rejection, separation, or loss--has been facilitated by the hypothesis that such feelings arise, in part, from some of the same neural and neurochemical systems that generate the unpleasant feelings resulting from physical pain. Accordingly, in animals, the painkiller morphine not only alleviates the distress of physical pain, but also the distress of social separation. Because morphine acts on the mu-opioid receptor, we examined whether variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1), as measured by the functional A118G polymorphism, was associated with individual differences in rejection sensitivity. Participants (n = 122) completed a self-report inventory of dispositional sensitivity to social rejection an

SUBMITTER: Way BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2736434 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature