Understand the neural mechanism underlying aggressive motivation

了解攻击动机背后的神经机制

• 批准号: 9252587
• 负责人: Dayu Lin
• 金额: $ 25.43万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-04-01 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9252587
• 关键词: Accelerometer; Acute; Address; Aggressive behavior; Animals; Area; Behavior; Brain; Cell Communication; Cells; Chronic; Cognitive; Crime; Data; Electrophysiology (science); Ensure; Estrogen Receptor alpha; Female; Fiber; Fishes; Health; Human; Hunger; Hypothalamic structure; Imaging Device; Individual; Invertebrates; Knowledge; Lead; Learning; Light; Link; Molecular; Monitor; Motivation; Motor; Mus; Neuronal Dysfunction; Neurons; Nose; Operant Conditioning; Pan Genus; Pathologic; Phase; Photometry; Physical aggression; Play; Population; Primates; Resources; Rewards; Role; Sensory; Sexual Partners; Social Behavior; Societies; Source; Testing; Time; Training; Violence; Woman; Work; World Health Organization; bullying; design; experience; follow-up; in vivo; male; motor control; negative affect; neural circuit; neuromechanism; optical imaging; pleasure; prevent; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; reproductive success; response; sensory input; sex; sexual predators; sexual violence; social; treatment strategy

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Aggression is an innate social behavior across invertebrate and vertebrate species. For most individuals, aggression is essential to protect their resources and ensure reproductive success when interference arises. However, for some individuals, aggression appears to be a source of pleasure. Many examples show that certain individuals across a range of species, from fish to primates, will voluntarily seek out the opportunity to engage in aggressive actions. For humans, bullying, stalking, and sexual predation are among the many forms of aggression-seeking behaviors that negatively affect our society. Treatments that suppress aggression-seeking behaviors would be especially useful given that they could prevent potential aggressive actions without compromising general social, cognitive, and motor abilities. Unfortunately, little is known about what brain activity promotes the aggression-seeking behavior and consequently no treatment is currently available to specifically suppress aggressive motivation. In response to this knowledge gap, our studies seek to understand how the aggressive impulses emerge in the brain. In our previous studies, we identified the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) as being indispensable for inter-male attack. Whereas activation of the VMHvl induces acute attack towards both male and female conspecifics, suppression of the VMHvl reduces natural inter-male attack. However, it remains unclear whether the VMHvl only controls the motor expression of attack or also determines sensory-independent aggression- seeking behaviors. To address this question, we designed a "self-initiated aggression" (SIA) task that allows us to temporarily separate the seeking phase and the action phase of aggression. During the task, the animal learns to voluntarily nose poke to gain access to a weaker intruder that they can attack. Using this task, we found that the VMHvl activity can substantially modulate the aggressive motivation in mice. In this study we will follow up on these initial findings and examine the natural VMHvl cell activity during the SIA task at both the single-cell and population levels. Through this study we hope to shed some new light onto the neural origin of aggressive motivation.

 描述（应用程序提供）：侵略是无脊椎动物和脊椎动物物种的先天社会行为。对于大多数人而言，积极对保护他们的 资源并确保产生干扰时生殖成功。但是，对于某些人来说，积极进取似乎是一种愉悦的来源。许多例子表明，从鱼到私人的各种物种的某些人将自愿寻求参与积极行动的机会。对于人类而言，欺凌，跟踪和性侵害是对我们社会产生负面影响的多种攻击性行为。鉴于它们可以防止潜在的积极行动而不受损害一般的社会，认知和运动能力，因此抑制积极寻求积极行为的治疗方法将特别有用。不幸的是，对于哪些大脑活动促进了积极的寻求行为，目前尚无治疗可用于特别抑制侵略性动机。为了应对这种知识差距，我们的研究试图了解侵略性冲动如何在大脑中出现。在我们先前的研究中，我们确定腹侧下丘脑（VMHVL）的腹侧部分对于男性间攻击是必不可少的。 VMHVL的激活会引起对男性和女性考虑的急性攻击，而对VMHVL的抑制会减少自然的男性间攻击。但是，尚不清楚VMHVL是否仅控制攻击的运动表达或决定与感觉无关的攻击行为。为了解决这个问题，我们设计了一个“自我启动的侵略性”（SIA）任务，使我们能够暂时将寻求阶段和侵略性的行动阶段分开。在任务期间，动物学会了自愿戳戳以获取可以攻击的较弱的入侵者。使用此任务，我们发现VMHVL活动可以实质上调节小鼠的攻击性动机。在这项研究中，我们将跟进这些初步发现，并检查单细胞和人口水平的SIA任务期间的天然VMHVL细胞活性。通过这项研究 我们希望能为激进动机的神经起源带来一些新的光芒。