Abstract
High aggression is often linked to lowered serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission. Although this may hold for high aggression as a trait characteristic of an individual, serotonergic activity is probably increased during performance of aggressive behavior. To test this hypothesis, first, the 5-HT1A agonist alnespirone and gamma aminobutyric acid-A agonist muscimol were administered into the dorsal raphe nucleus. These treatments, which inhibit 5-HT neuronal activity, were shown to decrease performance of aggressive behavior. Second, after a resident-intruder test, the activation of 5-HT neurons (measured by c-fos expression) was increased in high-aggressive rats, compared with low-aggressive rats or control rats that were not subjected to a social confrontation. Results show that performance of aggressive behavior increases 5-HT neuronal activity and that preventing this activation inhibits expression of aggressive behavior.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 667-674 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Behavioral Neuroscience |
Volume | 117 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug-2003 |
Keywords
- Aggression
- Animals
- GABA Agonists
- Male
- Muscimol
- Neurons
- Rats
- Serotonin
- Serotonin Receptor Agonists
- Spiro Compounds
- Synaptic Transmission