Abstract
Aggression is a normal and necessary component of social behavior that evolved to promote the protection of self, resources, progeny, and territory. However, excessive aggressiveness and disruptive violent outbursts are common problematic symptoms of multiple psychiatric disorders and represent a significant global burden. Current therapeutic strategies are limited due to a lack of understanding about the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying the “vicious” shift of normal adaptive aggression into violence. However, increasingly sophisticated neuroimaging tools for measuring human brain structure and function, together with the rapidly emerging preclinical tools for detailed mapping, measuring, and manipulating neuronal activity in the animal brain, have provided significant understanding of the precise neural microcircuitry and its dynamic molecular functioning underlying aggressive behavior. The core neuronal aggression network includes discrete clusters of neurons in the medial nucleus of the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus, and ventral part of the ventromedial premammillary nucleus. This core aggression circuit drives the various motor and autonomic aspects of aggression via its prominent projection to the midbrain periaqueductal gray area that in turn orchestrate the brainstem/spinal cord structures involved in executing motor output. Cognitive “top-down” forebrain control of this aggression circuit is mainly mediated through hippocampus-lateral septal and (prefrontal) cortical input supported by ascending midbrain monoaminergic nuclei like the dorsal/medial raphe nucleus (serotonin) and ventral tegmental area (dopamine).
This central circuit is evolutionary well conserved in all vertebrate species. The same holds for serotonin, dopamine, vasopressin, oxytocin, and adrenal/gonadal steroids as the major neurochemical modulators of offensive aggression and its underlying neuronal network. Obviously, the current emerging circuit-level knowledge of the neuronal and molecular underpinnings of aggression in both its normal and excessive forms have great potential to guide the rational development of effective therapeutic interventions for pathological aggressive behavior.
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Abbreviations
- 5-HIAA:
-
5-hydoxyindoleacetic acid
- 5-HT:
-
Serotonin
- 5-HTT:
-
Serotonin transporter
- AAS:
-
Anabolic androgen steroids
- ACC:
-
Anterior cingulate cortex
- AMYG:
-
Amygdala
- Aob:
-
Accessory olfactory bulb
- AVP:
-
Arginine vasopressin
- AVPV:
-
Anteroventral periventricular nucleus
- BNST:
-
Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis
- CeA:
-
Central amygdala
- Cp:
-
Caudate putamen
- CSF:
-
Cerebrospinal fluid
- DRN:
-
Dorsal raphé nucleus
- ER:
-
Estrogen receptor
- GABA:
-
Gamma amino butyric acid
- Glu:
-
Glutamate
- HIP:
-
Hippocampus
- HYP:
-
Hypothalamus
- LHB:
-
Lateral habenula
- LS:
-
Lateral septum
- MeA:
-
Medial amygdala
- MPOA:
-
Medial preoptic nucleus
- MRN:
-
Medial raphé nucleus
- NAc:
-
Nucleus accumbens
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- Ob:
-
Olfactory bulb
- OXT:
-
Oxytocin
- PAG:
-
Periaqueductal gray
- PET:
-
Positron emission topography
- PFC:
-
Prefrontal cortex
- Pit:
-
Pituitary
- PMV:
-
Ventral premammillary nucleus
- SBN:
-
Social behavioral network
- SDMN:
-
Social decision-making network
- SNR:
-
Substantia nigra
- SPECT:
-
Single photon emission computer tomography
- SPZ:
-
Subparaventricular zone
- Thal:
-
Thalamus
- Vp:
-
Ventral pallidum
- VTA:
-
Ventral tegmental area
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de Boer, S.F., Koolhaas, J. (2022). Aggression. In: Pfaff, D.W., Volkow, N.D., Rubenstein, J.L. (eds) Neuroscience in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88832-9_74
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