Selective increase of offensive behavior in the rat following intrahypothalamic 5,7-DHT-induced serotonin depletion
Behavioural Brain ResearchPublished 1 July 1988
Marguerite Vergnes, Antoine Depaulis, Annie Boehrer, E. Kempf
Citations81
SJR quartileQ2
SJR score0.92
SNIP0.77
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Results confirm that the inhibitory control of serotonin is exerted specifically on offensive aggression and suggest that forebrain structures are involved in this control.
Abstract
Cerebral serotonin (5-HT) depletions usually increase aggressive behaviors and more specifically facilitate elicitation of offensive behaviors. In order to localize the brain structures involved in this effect, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT), a neurotoxin of 5-HT neurons, was injected into the ascending serotonergic pathway within the lateral hypothalamus, thus depleting 5-HT only in the forebrain structures. The effects of such treatment on offensive and defensive as well as social and non-social behaviors were studied in resident rats confronted with untreated intruders. Pretreatment with desipramine protected noradrenergic neurons. The content of 5-HT fell to 25% of controls, whereas noradrenaline was maintained at 90% in the forebrain anterior to the injection site. Ethological analysis of both resident's and intruder's behavior showed that offensive items were increased in 5,7-DHT-treated residents, whereas defensive items were increased in their non-treated partners; non-social activities were unchanged. Control of mouse-killing behavior during a 2-h test in the same animals showed a clear increase in elicitation of killing in 5,7-DHT-injected rats. These results confirm that the inhibitory control of serotonin is exerted specifically on offensive aggression. They suggest that forebrain structures are involved in this control.
Keywords
PsychologyNeuroscience
Revue économiqueNonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
35,492 Citations1958Henri Guitton, Sidney Siegel
The Journal of Comparative NeurologyAn autoradiographic analysis of the differential ascending projections of the dorsal and median raphe nuclei in the rat
1,908 Citations1978Efrain C. Azmitia, Menahem Segal
The differential projections from the dorsal raphe and median raphe nuclei of the midbrain were autoradiographically traced in the rat brain after 3H‐proline micro‐injections to identify six ascending fiber tracts.
BehaviourA Comparison of the Social Postures of Some Common Laboratory Rodents
1,164 Citations1963E.C. Grant, J.H. Mackintosh
A number of general concepts are discussed, for example the relation of convulsions to flight behaviour, the reduction of incoming aggressive stimuli in submissive postures, "Cut-Off", and the inhibition of biting in the more social species.
Behavioral and Brain SciencesReconciling the role of central serotonin neurons in human and animal behavior
1,012 Citations1986Philippe Soubrié
Whether anxiety reduction or increased impulsivity is more likely to account for animal behavioral changes associated with decreased serotonergic transmission is investigated, as well as the effects of manipulating central serotonin in experimental anxiety paradigms in animals (punishment, extinction, novelty).
Behavioral BiologyAggressive behavior in the rat
548 Citations1977Robert J. Blanchard, D. Caroline Blanchard
Examination of specific behaviors obtained in “aggression,’ “fighting,” or “dominance” tasks suggests that no commonly employed psychological test provides an adequate measure of intraspecific attack behavior.
Brain ResearchSerotonin-containing neuronal perikarya and terminals: differential effects of p-chlorophenylalanine
200 Citations1973George K. Aghajanian, M. J. Kuhar +1 more
The results indicate that the synthesis of 5-HT is more susceptible to inhibition by PCPA in the terminals than in the perikarya of raphe neurons, perhaps due to a continued synthesis of new tryptophan hydroxylase enzyme in the latter site.
Physiology & BehaviorParachlorophenylalanine-induced serotonin depletion increases offensive but not defensive aggression in male rats
116 Citations1986Marguerite Vergnes, Antoine Depaulis +1 more
Results confirm that serotonin plays a role in controlling offensive aggression but not defensive behavior and PCPA treatment increased the occurrence of social approach and offensive postures in resident rats, whereas their untreated partners displayed more defensive reactions.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral ReviewsThe inhibitory modulation of agonistic behavior in the rat brain: A review
96 Citations1982D.J. Albert, M.L. Walsh
The conclusion is that separate brain systems exert an inhibitory control over defensive behavior, predatory killing, and social attack behavior.
Brain ResearchBiochemical and behavioral effects of serotonin neurotoxins on the nigrostriatal dopamine system: Comparison of injection sites
93 Citations1978Cecilia T. Giambalvo, S. Robert Snodgrass
It is suggested that 5-HT neurons from the raphe nuclei exert a tonic inhibition on the nigrostriatal pathway at the level of the SN through direct synapses on DA neurons, whereas their neostriatal terminals have an indirect effect on DA terminals, perhaps via interaction with cholinergic and GABA-ergic neurons.
Behavioural Brain ResearchEffect of hypothalamic injections of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine on elicitation of mouse-killing in rats
57 Citations1982Marguerite Vergnes, E. Kempf
An overall and marked serotonin (5-HT) depletion of the brain was found to facilitate initiation of mouse-killing behavior in the rat, whereas more selective 5-HT depletions within forebrain structures such as the septum, hippocampus, cingular cortex and amygdala, did not have such an effect.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological PsychiatryEthological analysis of drug action on aggression and defense
55 Citations1983Klaus A. Miczek
An analysis of the temporal pattern of aggressive behavior indicates how, for example, amphetamine and alcohol modulate sequences of aggressive interactions.
Journal of Pharmacy and PharmacologyThe effects of <i>p</i>-chlorophenylalanine and ethanolamine-<i>O</i>-sulphate in an animal test of anxiety
53 Citations1977Sandra E. File, J.R.G. Hyde
P‐Chlorophenylalanine, which produces a depletion of brain 5‐HT concentration, had effects qualitatively similar to those previously found with chronic chlordiazepoxide and with acute ethanol in the social interaction test of anxiety, compatible with the idea that a reduced turnover of5‐HT is important in anxiety reduction.
Physiology & BehaviorBrain serotonergic neurons: Their role in a form of dominance-subordination behavior in rats
42 Citations1984Wojciech Kostowski, Małgorzata Plewako +1 more
The results indicate that one form of dominance behavior can be inversely related to the activity of brain 5-HT system.
Brain ResearchMonoamine neurotoxins: Selective and delayed effects on behavior in colonies of laboratory rats
42 Citations1976Gaylord Ellison
Male laboratory rats were raised in two colonies, each of 27 rats, and then given intraventricular injections of the norepinephrine neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or the serotonin neurotoxin 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine (5, 6-DHT) or saline and behavior during the next 50 days was observed.
Physiology & BehaviorEffets de la stimulation de l'hypothalamus latéral, de l'amygdale et de l'hippocampe sur le comportement d'agression interspécifique rat-souris
36 Citations1969Marguerite Vergnes, P Karlı
Electrical stimulation of various sites located in the posterior two-thirds of the lateral hypothalamus elicited a clear facilitation of the mouse-killing response in spontaneous “killer”-rats; but interspecific aggressive behavior could be elicited in spontaneously “non-killers” only by stimulation of a very circumscribed zone of the anterior hypothalamus between optic tract and fornix.
Brain ResearchMuricide induced by diagonal band damage: role of 5-Ht pathways
32 Citations1980Marguerite Vergnes, Richard Bandler +1 more
Physiology & BehaviorElicitation of conspecific attack or defense in the male rat by intraventricular injection of a GABA agonist or antagonist
32 Citations1985Antoine Depaulis, Marguerite Vergnes
It is demonstrated that activation of central GABA receptors elicits intraspecific offensive behaviours in the rat, and blockage of these receptors induces defensive reactions and suppresses offensive behaviours.
Physiology & BehaviorInduction of mouse-killing in the rat by intraventricular injection of a GABA-Agonist
27 Citations1983Antoine Depaulis, Marguerite Vergnes
The data support the view that GABA receptors are involved in mechanisms which facilitate elicitation of mouse-killing behaviour as well as other positively motivated responses.
NeuropsychobiologyNeurochemical Correlates of Muricidal Behavior in Rats
26 Citations2008L. Valzelli, Silvio Garattini +2 more
The results here presented indicate that complete abolition of brain serotoninergic control is just enough per se to induce muricidal activity, well beyond any pre-existing strain predisposition to kill mice or not.
Pharmacology Biochemistry and BehaviorA microcomputer method for behavioural data acquisition and subsequent analysis
21 Citations1983Antoine Depaulis
A modular procedure is described which allows rapid manual encoding of visually-observed behavioural units and provides the possibility of various subsequent analysis without re-encoding or transcribing the initial data.
Topics in the neurosciencesEthopharmacology of Hypothalamic Aggression in the Rat
20 Citations1987Menno R. Kruk, A.M. van der Poel +4 more
An ethopharmacological study of hypothalamic aggression may seem a little paradoxical, as essentially an artificially-induced response is studied using ethological methods, which stress the importance of studying natural behaviour in a natural environment.
AlcoholGenotypic variations in ethanol effect on striatal and hippocampal transmitter interactions
20 Citations1985Ernst-Rudolf Kempe, G. Fuhrmann +1 more
Genotypic variations in the reactivity to an acute ethanol intoxication of dopamine turnover, release and metabolites, as well as serotoninergic neurotransmission, have been investigated in the nigrostriatal and the septohippocampal pathways of C57Bl and Balb/c mice strains.
Aggressive BehaviorRelationship between mousekilling and conspecific aggression in the male rat
17 Citations1983Antoine Depaulis, Marguerite Vergnes
It is suggested that there is a correlation between mousekilling and intraspecific offensive behaviors and some similarities in the situations where both behaviors are elicited may contribute to the existence of such a correlation.
Physiology & BehaviorInduction du comportement d'agression Rat-Souris par la p-chlorophenylalanine: Rôle de l'amygdale
16 Citations1980Marguerite Vergnes
Aggressive BehaviorThe effects of negative reinforcement for irritable aggression on resident-intruder behavior
9 Citations1982Richard J. Viken, John F. Knutson
It is demonstrated that rats trained to display elevated levels of shock-induced aggression in a negative reinforcement paradigm displayed more boxing behavior than yoked control groups in a later test in which intruder rats were placed in the home cage of resident rats.