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BMC Biology May 2022Aggression is an adaptive behaviour that animals use to protect offspring, defend themselves and obtain resources. Zebrafish, like many other animals, are not able to...
BACKGROUND
Aggression is an adaptive behaviour that animals use to protect offspring, defend themselves and obtain resources. Zebrafish, like many other animals, are not able to recognize themselves in the mirror and typically respond to their own reflection with aggression. However, mirror aggression is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, with some individuals displaying high levels of aggression against their mirror image, while others show none at all. In the current work, we have investigated the genetic basis of mirror aggression by using a classic forward genetics approach - selective breeding for high and low mirror aggression zebrafish (HAZ and LAZ).
RESULTS
We characterized AB wild-type zebrafish for their response to the mirror image. Both aggressive and non-aggressive fish were inbred over several generations. We found that HAZ were on average more aggressive than the corresponding LAZ across generations and that the most aggressive adult HAZ were less anxious than the least aggressive adult LAZ after prolonged selective breeding. RNAseq analysis of these fish revealed that hundreds of protein-encoding genes with important diverse biological functions such as arsenic metabolism (as3mt), cell migration (arl4ab), immune system activity (ptgr1), actin cytoskeletal remodelling (wdr1), corticogenesis (dgcr2), protein dephosphorylation (ublcp1), sialic acid metabolism (st6galnac3) and ketone body metabolism (aacs) were differentially expressed between HAZ and LAZ, suggesting a strong genetic contribution to this phenotype. DAVID pathway analysis showed that a number of diverse pathways are enriched in HAZ over LAZ including pathways related to immune function, oxidation-reduction processes and cell signalling. In addition, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) identified 12 modules of highly correlated genes that were significantly associated with aggression duration and/or experimental group.
CONCLUSIONS
The current study shows that selective breeding based of the mirror aggression phenotype induces strong, heritable changes in behaviour and gene expression within the brain of zebrafish suggesting a strong genetic basis for this behaviour. Our transcriptomic analysis of fish selectively bred for high and low levels of mirror aggression revealed specific transcriptomic signatures induced by selective breeding and mirror aggression and thus provides a large and novel resource of candidate genes for future study.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Gene Expression Profiling; Transcriptome; Zebrafish
PubMed: 35501893
DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01298-z -
PeerJ 2022Aggressive interactions help individuals to gain access to and defend resources, but they can be costly, leading to increased predation risk, injury, or death. Signals... (Review)
Review
Aggressive interactions help individuals to gain access to and defend resources, but they can be costly, leading to increased predation risk, injury, or death. Signals involving sounds and color can allow birds to avoid the costs of intraspecific aggressive encounters, but we know less about agonistic signaling between species, where fights can be frequent and just as costly. Here, we review photographic and video evidence of aggressive interactions among species of birds ( = 337 interactions documenting the aggressive signals of 164 different bird species from 120 genera, 50 families, and 24 orders) to document how individuals signal in aggressive encounters among species, and explore whether these visual signals are similar to those used in aggressive encounters with conspecifics. Despite the diversity of birds examined, most aggressively signaling birds displayed weapons (bills, talons, wings) used in fighting and placed these weapons closest to their heterospecific opponent when signaling. Most species oriented their bodies and heads forward with their bills pointing towards their heterospecific opponent, often highlighting their face, throat, mouth, and bill. Many birds also opened their wings and/or tails, increasing their apparent size in displays, consistent with the importance of body size in determining behavioral dominance among species. Aggressive postures were often similar across species and taxonomic families. Exceptions included Accipitridae and Falconidae, which often highlighted their talons in the air, Columbidae, which often highlighted their underwings from the side, and Trochilidae, which often hovered upright in the air and pointed their fanned tail downward. Most species highlighted bright carotenoid-based colors in their signals, but highlighted colors varied across species and often involved multiple colors in combination (., black, white, and carotenoid-based colors). Finally, birds tended to use the same visual signals in aggressive encounters with heterospecifics that they use in aggressive encounters with conspecifics, suggesting that selection from aggressive interactions may act on the same signaling traits regardless of competitor identity.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Aggression; Phenotype; Columbidae; Carotenoids
PubMed: 35722268
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13431 -
Subjective aggression during alcohol and cannabis intoxication before and after aggression exposure.Psychopharmacology Sep 2016Alcohol and cannabis use have been implicated in aggression. Alcohol consumption is known to facilitate aggression, whereas a causal link between cannabis and aggression...
RATIONALE
Alcohol and cannabis use have been implicated in aggression. Alcohol consumption is known to facilitate aggression, whereas a causal link between cannabis and aggression has not been clearly demonstrated.
OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the acute effects of alcohol and cannabis on subjective aggression in alcohol and cannabis users, respectively, following aggression exposure. Drug-free controls served as a reference. It was hypothesized that aggression exposure would increase subjective aggression in alcohol users during alcohol intoxication, whereas it was expected to decrease subjective aggression in cannabis users during cannabis intoxication.
METHODS
Heavy alcohol (n = 20) and regular cannabis users (n = 21), and controls (n = 20) were included in a mixed factorial study. Alcohol and cannabis users received single doses of alcohol and placebo or cannabis and placebo, respectively. Subjective aggression was assessed before and after aggression exposure consisting of administrations of the point-subtraction aggression paradigm (PSAP) and the single category implicit association test (SC-IAT). Testosterone and cortisol levels in response to alcohol/cannabis treatment and aggression exposure were recorded as secondary outcome measures.
RESULTS
Subjective aggression significantly increased following aggression exposure in all groups while being sober. Alcohol intoxication increased subjective aggression whereas cannabis decreased the subjective aggression following aggression exposure. Aggressive responses during the PSAP increased following alcohol and decreased following cannabis relative to placebo. Changes in aggressive feeling or response were not correlated to the neuroendocrine response to treatments.
CONCLUSIONS
It is concluded that alcohol facilitates feelings of aggression whereas cannabis diminishes aggressive feelings in heavy alcohol and regular cannabis users, respectively.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aggression; Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholic Intoxication; Cannabis; Case-Control Studies; Central Nervous System Depressants; Environmental Exposure; Ethanol; Female; Humans; Male; Marijuana Smoking; Young Adult
PubMed: 27422568
DOI: 10.1007/s00213-016-4371-1 -
Medicine Sep 2023Anger and aggression are common sources of distress and impairment. There is, however, no available data on anger and aggression based on bibliometric analysis. This...
Anger and aggression are common sources of distress and impairment. There is, however, no available data on anger and aggression based on bibliometric analysis. This study uses bibliometric analysis to analyze research hotspots and trends in anger and aggression. Publications on anger and aggression within the last ten years were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection. Using descriptive bibliometrics, journals, countries, institutions, authors, references, and keywords in anger and aggression research were visually analyzed via CiteSpace. A total of 3114 articles were included, and studies on anger and aggression increased yearly. The publications are mainly from 106 countries led by the USA and 381 institutions led by Univ Penn. We identified 505 authors, where Emil F. Coccaro had the highest number of articles, while Buss A.H. was the most frequently co-cited author. AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR is the journal that bore most of the studies, while PLOS ONE was the most cited journal. Our analysis demonstrated that research on anger and aggression is flourishing. Behaviors of anger and aggression, risk factors, neural mechanisms, personality, and adolescence have been researched hotspots in the past ten years. Besides, victimization, drosophila melanogaster, psychopathic traits, and perpetration are emerging anger and aggression research trends.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila melanogaster; Aggression; Anger; Bullying; Bibliometrics
PubMed: 37682125
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000035132 -
Journal of the American Association For... Sep 2021The Syrian hamster () is a solitary and naturally territorial animal, with female hamsters being more aggressive than males. This behavior makes handling difficult...
The Syrian hamster () is a solitary and naturally territorial animal, with female hamsters being more aggressive than males. This behavior makes handling difficult because they are usually housed in groups, which can lead to aggressive behavior. The objective of this study was to refine the management of Syrian hamsters in order to minimize aggressiveness, reduce the animal injuries, and lessen the risk of accidents among laboratory animal technicians due to the hamster aggression during handling. The experiment was conducted at the Center for Animals Experimentation, Oswaldo Cruz Institute. Four groups of hamsters were observed by video recording: group 1 (group-housed males, 6 to 8 wk of age), group 2 (group-housed females 6 to 8 wk of age), group 3 (group-housed female, 3 to 4 wk of age), and group 4 (individually housed females, 6 to 8 wk of age). Group 1 animals were less aggressive and agitated both during housing and during handling by the animal technician as compared with groups 2 and 3. Groups 2 and 3 showed greater agitation and aggression. Marked reduction in the level of aggressiveness and agitation was observed in group 4 as compared with all other groups evaluated during handling by the animal technician. Male hamsters housed in groups of 4 and females housed individually have reduced risks of accident during handling, thereby averting distress and consequent physiologic alterations. Avoiding these risks is essential to obtaining reliable experimental results.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Cricetinae; Female; Housing; Male; Mesocricetus; Territoriality
PubMed: 34301345
DOI: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-21-000020 -
CNS Spectrums Jun 2015Elevations of impulsive behavior have been observed in a number of serious mental illnesses. These phenomena can lead to harmful behaviors, including violence, and thus... (Review)
Review
Elevations of impulsive behavior have been observed in a number of serious mental illnesses. These phenomena can lead to harmful behaviors, including violence, and thus represent a serious public health concern. Such violence is often a reason for psychiatric hospitalization, and it often leads to prolonged hospital stays, suffering by patients and their victims, and increased stigmatization. Despite the attention paid to violence, little is understood about its neural basis in schizophrenia. On a psychological level, aggression in schizophrenia has been primarily attributed to psychotic symptoms, desires for instrumental gain, or impulsive responses to perceived personal slights. Often, multiple attributions can coexist during a single aggressive incident. In this review, I discuss the neural circuitry associated with impulsivity and aggression in schizophrenia, with an emphasis on implications for treatment. Impulsivity appears to account for a great deal of aggression in schizophrenia, especially in inpatient settings. Urgency, defined as impulsivity in the context of strong emotion, is the primary focus of this article. It is elevated in several psychiatric disorders, and in schizophrenia, it has been related to aggression. Many studies have implicated dysfunctional frontotemporal circuitry in impulsivity and aggression in schizophrenia, and pharmacological treatments may act via that circuitry to reduce urgency and aggressive behaviors; however, more mechanistic studies are critically needed. Recent studies point toward manipulable neurobehavioral targets and suggest that cognitive, pharmacological, neuromodulatory, and neurofeedback treatment approaches can be developed to ameliorate urgency and aggression in schizophrenia. It is hoped that these approaches will improve treatment efficacy.
Topics: Aggression; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Nerve Net; Neurobiology; Schizophrenic Psychology
PubMed: 25900066
DOI: 10.1017/S1092852915000206 -
Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Apr 2021Aggression is an affect-laden behavior. The within-person variability of affective states that immediately precede, accompany, and follow aggression-and their links to...
Aggression is an affect-laden behavior. The within-person variability of affective states that immediately precede, accompany, and follow aggression-and their links to between-person variability in aggressive behavior and traits-remain incompletely understood. To address this gap in our understanding, we examined 8 studies in which 2,173 participants reported the negative and positive affect they experienced before, during, and after a laboratory or online aggression task. We quantified the within-person variability within and across negative and positive affect intensity, as well as the variability in oscillations between negative and positive affect Internal meta-analyses revealed an association between aggressive behavior and traits and flux in positive affect (against our preregistered predictions). Probing this effect with piecewise growth models showed that less aggressive individuals exhibited a pronounced decrease in positive affect during aggression, as compared to before and after the act. This downward fluctuation in positive affect was attenuated among aggressive individuals, who exhibited relatively stable levels of positive aggression-related affect. Thus, stable positive affect surrounding an aggressive act and higher positive affect during the act may buttress and promote aggressive tendencies. These findings support a reinforcement model of aggressive behavior, contrast with the aggression literature's conventional focus on negative affect and the instability thereof, and point to the utility of dynamic measures of moment-to-moment affect in understanding human social behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Affect; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aggression; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Social Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 32191100
DOI: 10.1037/emo0000730 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Oct 2007Psychopathological violence in criminals and intense aggression in fruit flies and rodents are studied with novel behavioral, neurobiological, and genetic approaches... (Review)
Review
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.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Brain; Humans; Neurobiology; Social Behavior; Violence
PubMed: 17978016
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3500-07.2007 -
International Journal of Molecular... Aug 2022Being different multifactorial forms of psychopathology, aggression, depression and suicidal behavior, which is considered to be violent aggression directed against the... (Review)
Review
Being different multifactorial forms of psychopathology, aggression, depression and suicidal behavior, which is considered to be violent aggression directed against the self, have principal neurobiological links: preclinical and clinical evidence associates depression, aggression and suicidal behavior with dysregulation in central serotonergic (5-HT) neurotransmission. The implication of different types of 5-HT receptors in the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of aggression, depression and suicidality has been well recognized. In this review, we consider and compare the orchestra of 5-HT receptors involved in these severe psychopathologies. Specifically, it concentrates on the role of 5-HT, 5-HT, 5-HT, 5-HT, 5-HT, 5-HT and 5-HT receptors in the mechanisms underlying the predisposition to aggression, depression and suicidal behavior. The review provides converging lines of evidence that: (1) depression-related 5-HT receptors include those receptors with pro-depressive properties (5-HT, 5-HT and 5-HT) as well as those providing an antidepressant effect (5-HT, 5-HT, 5-HT subtypes). (2) Aggression-related 5-HT receptors are identical to depression-related 5-HT receptors with the exception of 5-HT receptors. Activation of 5-HT, 5-HT 5-HT, 5-HT receptors attenuate aggressiveness, whereas agonists of 5-HT intensify aggressive behavior.
Topics: Aggression; Depression; Humans; Receptors, Serotonin; Serotonin; Suicide
PubMed: 35955946
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23158814 -
The Western Journal of Emergency... Jul 2020Managing agitation in the clinical setting is a challenge that many practitioners face regularly. Our evolving understanding of the etiological factors involved in... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Managing agitation in the clinical setting is a challenge that many practitioners face regularly. Our evolving understanding of the etiological factors involved in aggressive acts has better informed our interventions through pharmacologic and behavioral strategies. This paper reviews the literature on the neurobiological underpinnings of aggressive behaviors, linking psychopathology with proposed mechanisms of action of psychiatric medications shown to be effective in mitigating agitation.
METHODS
We performed a review of the extant literature using PubMed as a primary database. Investigation focused on neurobiology of agitation and its relation to the current evidence base for particular interventions.
RESULTS
There are well-established pathways that can lead to increased autonomic response and the potential for violence. Psychopathology and substance-induced perceptual distortions may lead to magnification and overestimation of environmental threat, heightening the potential for aggression. Additional challenges have arisen with the advent of several novel drugs of abuse, many of which lead to atypical clinical presentations and which can elude standard drug screens. Our interventions still lean on the evidence base found in Project BETA (Best Practices in Evaluation and Treatment of Agitation). Although not a new drug and not included in the Project BETA guidelines, ketamine and its use are also discussed, given its unique pharmacology and potential benefits when other protocoled interventions have failed.
CONCLUSION
Aggression can occur due to manifold reasons in the clinical setting. Having an informed understanding of the possible determinants of agitation can help with more tailored responses to individual patients, limiting the unnecessary use of medications or of interventions that could be deemed forceful.
Topics: Aggression; Humans; Psychomotor Agitation; Psychotropic Drugs
PubMed: 32726254
DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2020.4.45779