Photoperiodic Changes in Aggression

攻击性的光周期变化

• 批准号: 0919911
• 负责人: Gregory Demas
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919911&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Photoperiodic; Changes; Aggression

Most animals experience large fluctuations in environmental conditions across the seasons of the year. Consequently, many animals display seasonal changes in physiology and behavior which allow them to cope with seasonal changes. Day length is the main environmental cue used by animals to coordinate seasonal behavioral and physiological responses. For example, animals living in long "summer-like" day lengths will maintain high levels of the hormone testosterone and thus will continue to breed, whereas animals housed on short "winter-like" days will inhibit their breeding due to low testosterone. In addition, it has recently been demonstrated that rodents housed in short days display increased aggression compared with animals housed on long days, despite lower levels of testosterone. This finding is particularly interesting given the traditional belief that testosterone regulates aggression. The goal of this project is to investigate the hormone mechanisms regulating seasonal changes in aggression in rodents. Specifically, animals will be housed in long or short days in the lab and levels of specific hormones, including the androgen DHEA and melatonin, will be examined. Aggression will then be videotaped and quantified using a computer-based video analysis system. Based on previous research, it is predicted that the short days will increase aggression and that both DHEA and melatonin play a role in mediating seasonal aggression. These experiments challenge the simple notion that all forms of aggression are testosterone-dependent and have important implications for the study of how hormones act on the brain to regulate social behaviors and how these behaviors may be altered by the environment. Collectively, these studies will help identify important and novel mechanisms of hormonal control of aggression. Importantly, these studies will provide excellent opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students, including under-represented minorities, to gain hands-on experience and to allow them to develop important scientific skills by conducting, presenting and publishing scientific research.

在一年中，大多数动物在环境条件下经历了很大的波动。因此，许多动物表现出生理和行为的季节性变化，使它们能够应对季节性变化。白天长度是动物用于协调季节性行为和生理反应的主要环境提示。例如，生活在漫长的“夏季”日长度上的动物将维持高水平的激素睾丸激素，因此将继续繁殖，而在短期“冬季”时代所容纳的动物会因低睾丸激素而抑制其繁殖。 此外，最近已经证明，尽管睾丸激素水平较低，但与长时间所容纳的动物相比，短时间内包含的啮齿动物显示出攻击性的增加。鉴于睾丸激素调节侵略性的传统信念，这一发现特别有趣。该项目的目的是研究调节啮齿动物侵略性季节性变化的激素机制。具体而言，将检查动物在实验室中长期或短时间内饲养的特定激素水平，包括雄激素DHEA和褪黑激素。然后，将使用基于计算机的视频分析系统对攻击性进行录像和量化。基于先前的研究，可以预测短时间将增加侵略性，而DHEA和褪黑激素都在介导季节性侵略中发挥作用。这些实验挑战了一个简单的观念，即所有形式的侵略都依赖于睾丸激素，并且对研究激素如何在大脑上作用以调节社会行为以及环境如何改变这些行为具有重要意义。总的来说，这些研究将有助于确定激素控制侵略的重要和新颖机制。重要的是，这些研究将为包括代表性不足的少数群体在内的研究生和本科生提供极好的机会，以获得动手经验，并允许他们通过进行，介绍和出版科学研究来发展重要的科学技能。