Login

CoBIC Scientific Opening Symposium

20–21 Apr 2026
Goethe University
Europe/Berlin timezone

Contact

Central insulin signalling modulates emotional processing in healthy controls and depressed patients

20 Apr 2026, 14:45
1h 30m
Casino Festsaal (Goethe University)

Casino Festsaal

Goethe University

Campus Westend Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 2 60323 Frankfurt am Main CoBIC Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße 9 60528 Frankfurt am Main

Speaker

Aicha Bouzouina (AG NMET)

Description

Background: Despite the strong interaction between insulin resistance and depression, the relevance of central insulin signalling on emotional processing is unknown.
Methods: In a double-blind crossover design, we applied intranasal insulin (INI, 160 UI) or placebo and assessed Emotional processing using visual analogue scales (VAS), a facial emotion recognition task (FERT), and fMRI during the Hariri task in 50 controls and 80 depressed patients (MDD).
Results: Across all participants, INI improved subjective happiness ratings (p = 0.026) and recognition of positive facial expressions (p = 0.048). fMRI ROI-analysis of the amygdala showed a condition × diagnosis interaction (p = 0.008), with recovery of the amygdala signal in MDD.
Conclusion: INI modulates the processing of emotional stimuli. This is the first study showing that central insulin signalling is relevant for emotional processing.

Author

Aicha Bouzouina (AG NMET)

Co-authors

Andreas Reif (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy) Anne Hellmann (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Carmen Schiweck (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, and Goethe University Frankfurt, Cooperative Brain Imaging Center (CoBIC), Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Carmen Uckermark (Department Psychiatry University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University Frankfurt, CoBIC) Hannah Sochor (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) J. Repple (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany) Jaehyun Lee (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Mareike Aichholzer (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Paul Forbes (CoBIC) Rebecca Jacoby (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Ruth Hanssen (University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Polyclinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Prevention Medicine, Germany) Shahir Dastagir (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah (Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, and Cooperative Brain Imaging Center - CoBIC, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Silke Matura (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Thong Zhao (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Vivi Schack (Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.