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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 31, 2007, 27(44):11803-11806; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3500-07.2007
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Symposia and Mini-Symposia
Neurobiology of Escalated Aggression and Violence
Klaus A. Miczek,1,2 Rosa M. M. de Almeida,3 Edward A. Kravitz,4 Emilie F. Rissman,5 Sietse F. de Boer,6 andAdrian Raine7 1Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, 2Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, 3Laboratory of Neuroscience, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 4Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 5Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, 6Department of Behavioral Physiology, University of Groningen, 9700 AB Groningen, The Netherlands, and 7Department of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Correspondence should be addressed to Klaus A. Miczek, Tufts University, 530 Boston Avenue (Bacon Hall), Medford, MA 02155. Email: klaus.miczek{at}tufts.edu
Psychopathological violence in criminals and intense aggression in fruit flies and rodents are studied with novel behavioral, neurobiological, and genetic approaches that characterize the escalation from adaptive aggression to violence. One goal is to delineate the type of aggressive behavior and its escalation with greater precision; second, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and brainstem structures emerge as pivotal nodes in the limbic circuitry mediating escalated aggressive behavior. The neurochemical and molecular work focuses on the genes that enable invertebrate aggression in males and females and genes that are expressed or suppressed as a result of aggressive experiences in mammals. The fruitless gene, immediate early genes in discrete serotonin neurons, or sex chromosome genes identify sexually differentiated mechanisms for escalated aggression. Male, but not female, fruit flies establish hierarchical relationships in fights and learn from previous fighting experiences. By manipulating either the fruitless or transformer genes in the brains of male or female flies, patterns of aggression can be switched with males using female patterns and vice versa. Work with Sts or Sry genes suggests so far that other genes on the X chromosomes may have a more critical role in female mouse aggression. New data from feral rats point to the regulatory influences on mesocortical serotonin circuits in highly aggressive animals via feedback to autoreceptors and via GABAergic and glutamatergic inputs. Imaging data lead to the hypothesis that antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behavior may in part be attributable to impairments in some of the brain structures (dorsal and ventral PFC, amygdala, and angular gyrus) subserving moral cognition and emotion.
Key words: aggression; alcohol; genetics; learning; prefrontal cortex; serotonergic 1A receptor; serotonin; sex difference
Received Aug. 1, 2007; revised Aug. 24, 2007; accepted Sept. 3, 2007.
Correspondence should be addressed to Klaus A. Miczek, Tufts University, 530 Boston Avenue (Bacon Hall), Medford, MA 02155. Email: klaus.miczek{at}tufts.edu
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