Social Control of Hypothalamus-Mediated Male Aggression

Neuron. 2017 Aug 16;95(4):955-970.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.06.046. Epub 2017 Jul 27.

Abstract

How environmental and physiological signals interact to influence neural circuits underlying developmentally programmed social interactions such as male territorial aggression is poorly understood. We have tested the influence of sensory cues, social context, and sex hormones on progesterone receptor (PR)-expressing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) that are critical for male territorial aggression. We find that these neurons can drive aggressive displays in solitary males independent of pheromonal input, gonadal hormones, opponents, or social context. By contrast, these neurons cannot elicit aggression in socially housed males that intrude in another male's territory unless their pheromone-sensing is disabled. This modulation of aggression cannot be accounted for by linear integration of environmental and physiological signals. Together, our studies suggest that fundamentally non-linear computations enable social context to exert a dominant influence on developmentally hard-wired hypothalamus-mediated male territorial aggression.

Keywords: VMH; aggression; castration; emotion; pheromone; progesterone receptor; sex hormones; sexual dimorphism; territorial behavior; ventromedial hypothalamus.

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / drug effects
  • Action Potentials / genetics
  • Adenoviridae / genetics
  • Aggression / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Antipsychotic Agents / pharmacology
  • Clozapine / analogs & derivatives
  • Clozapine / pharmacology
  • Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels / genetics
  • Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels / metabolism
  • Female
  • Hypothalamus / cytology*
  • Hypothalamus / physiology*
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Luminescent Proteins / genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Neurons / drug effects
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Patch-Clamp Techniques
  • Receptors, Progesterone / genetics
  • Receptors, Progesterone / metabolism
  • Sex Factors
  • Social Behavior*
  • TRPC Cation Channels / genetics
  • TRPC Cation Channels / metabolism

Substances

  • Antipsychotic Agents
  • Cnga2 protein, mouse
  • Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Receptors, Progesterone
  • TRPC Cation Channels
  • Trpc2 protein, mouse
  • Clozapine
  • clozapine N-oxide