Host: The Japanese Pharmacological Society, The Japanese Society of Clinical Pharmacology
Name : WCP2018 (18th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology)
Location : Kyoto
Date : July 01, 2018 - July 06, 2018
Background: Impulsive aggression is associated with a variety of psychiatric illness. People with a tendency of impulsive aggression suddenly harm themselves or others, particularly when they face stressful conditions. Little is known about how stress provokes impulsive aggression. The ventral hippocampus (vHip) regulates emotional and motivated behaviors and has strong connections with BNST, LS, amygdala, and hypothalamus, which regulates aggression in mice. Thus, we hypothesized that the vHip modulates impulsive aggression.
Methods: We used chemogenetic approaches to examine whether the vHip is involved in stress-evoked attack behaviors in post-weaning social isolated mice, an animal model of aggression. The adeno-associated viruses (AAV5) carrying hSyn-HA-hM3D(Gq)-IRES-mCitrine, hSyn-HA-hM4D(Gi)-IRES-mCitrine, or hSyn-EGFP (as control) were transduced into the vHip of separate groups of post-weaning social isolated mice. The hM3D(Gq) (to induce neuronal activation) and hM4D(Gi) (to inhibit neuronal activity) are activated by clozapine-N-oxide (CNO).
Results: After foot-shocks, acute stress increased attack behaviors of vehicle-injected mice. However, CNO injection (1mg/kg) decreased stress-induced attack behaviors in hM4D(Gi) mice but not in control mice. Moreover, CNO injection induced the vHip neuronal activation and increased attack behaviors in hM3D(Gq) mice but not in control mice.
Conclusions: These results indicate that the hM3D(Gq)-mediated vHip activation increases attack behaviors and the hM4D(Gi)-mediated vHip inhibition reduces attack behaviors in mice. Our findings provide the evidence that the vHip regulates the neural circuits of aggression in mice.
