title: Neural mechanisms of predatory aggression in rats-implications for abnormal intraspecific aggression.
abstract: Our recent studies showed that brain areas that are activated in a model of escalated aggression overlap with those that promote predatory aggression in cats. This finding raised the interesting possibility that the brain mechanisms that control certain types of abnormal aggression include those involved in predation. However, the mechanisms of predatory aggression are poorly known in rats, a species that is in many respects different from cats. To get more insights into such mechanisms, here we studied the brain activation patterns associated with spontaneous muricide in rats. Subjects not exposed to mice, and those which did not show muricide were used as controls. We found that muricide increased the activation of the central and basolateral amygdala, and lateral hypothalamus as compared to both controls; in addition, a ventral shift in periaqueductal gray activation was observed. Interestingly, these are the brain regions from where predatory aggression can be elicited, or enhanced by electrical stimulation in cats. The analysis of more than 10 other brain regions showed that brain areas that inhibited (or were neutral to) cat predatory aggression were not affected by muricide. Brain activation patterns partly overlapped with those seen earlier in the cockroach hunting model of rat predatory aggression, and were highly similar with those observed in the glucocorticoid dysfunction model of escalated aggression. These findings show that the brain mechanisms underlying predation are evolutionarily conservative, and indirectly support our earlier assumption regarding the involvement of predation-related brain mechanisms in certain forms of escalated social aggression in rats.
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Aron
authors: A
authors: Tulogdi
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Laszlo
authors: L
authors: Biro
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Beata
authors: B
authors: Barsvari
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Mona
authors: M
authors: Stankovic
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: haller.jozsef@koki.mta.hu.
authors: Jozsef
authors: J
authors: Haller
authors: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, P.O. Box 67, H-1450 Budapest, Hungary.
authors: Mate
authors: M
authors: Toth
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Aggression; Amygdala; Hypothalamus; Muricide; Periaqueductal gray; c-Fos immunohistochemistry