The study revealed the neural mechanism that regulates the aggressive behavior of male mice.

On April 21, the journal Cell reports published an online research paper entitled "excitatory neuron gated aggressive behavior of projections from the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in the posterior amygdala". The research was carried out by Xu Xiaohong, Center for excellence and innovation in brain science and intelligent technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Neuroscience), Shanghai Research Center of brain science and brain analogues, and State Key Laboratory of neuroscience The research group completed.this study explored the bidirectional regulation of excitatory projections from the posterior amygdala to the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus in male mice through viral tracing, electrophysiological recording of brain slices, early gene staining, optical fiber recording and chemical genetic manipulation.previous studies focused on the regulation of subcortical structure to ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus on aggressive behavior in mice. In this study, VGluT1 was used as a molecular marker of cortical structure to reveal the gating function of cortical structure on hypothalamus, which provided a new perspective for further study on the regulation of subcortical structure and behavior.aggressive behavior is one of the most important instinctive behaviors in most vertebrates and even invertebrates. In human society, aggressive behavior and uncontrollable anger and impulse are also important manifestations of mental diseases such as mania and bipolar affective disorder. Therefore, the neural basic research on the occurrence of aggressive behavior, as well as genetic molecules and external environment, are important manifestations of aggressive behavior The influence of the neural circuit of aggressive behavior may provide new ideas for the treatment of pathological aggressive behavior in these psychiatric diseases.previous studies on the aggressive behavior loop mainly focused on mice. In the aggressive behavior paradigm of attacker intruder mice, mice perceive the stimuli of external invaders, and finally output aggressive behaviors according to their own state adjustment. The whole process requires the participation of a series of nuclei in the brain, the ventromedial nucleus of hypothalamus is the core, and other brain regions directly or indirectly form it Indirect connection is involved in the occurrence of attacks.however, previous studies mainly focused on the impact of subcortical structures represented by VGLUT2 and VGAT on the projection of ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus on aggressive behavior. Little is known about the input and function of subcortical structures.in order to study this problem, Xu Xiaohong's research group used VGluT1 molecule as a molecular marker of supracortical structure, and found a group of VGluT1 positive neurons located in the posterior amygdala that specifically projected to the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. When mice faced with invaders, the higher the neural activity level, the more likely the mice were to launch aggressive behavior.when pharmacological genetic methods were used to regulate neural activity in this brain region, activation of the brain region increased the aggressiveness of mice in low aggression mice, while inhibition of this brain region reduced aggressive behavior in high aggressive mice.different from the regulation of subcortical structure input on aggressive behavior in mice, activation of the projection did not induce non physiological aggressive behavior in mice, such as attacking female invaders.subsequent analysis of the upstream and downstream loop levels of these neurons suggested that the VGluT1 positive neurons specifically projecting to the posterior amygdala of the ventromedial hypothalamus received a large number of projections from the limbic system, which processes emotional information in mice. Besides the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, this brain area also projected to many other brain regions that regulate the aggressive behavior of mice The occurrence of rat aggressive behavior.this study found that the VGluT1 positive neurons in the posterior amygdala of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus played an important role in aggressive behavior, and revealed the important function of direct projection from the supracortical structure to the hypothalamus in the process of aggressive behavior gating.under the guidance of researcher Xu Xiaohong, the research was mainly completed by doctoral student chaxi. Assistant researcher Wang Lei made important contributions, and doctoral student Jiao zhuolui also actively participated in the research, and was strongly supported by researcher Xu Chun and research assistant Yang Rongrong of brain intelligence Excellence Center.this project is supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shanghai.note: the model of the gating function of VGluT1 positive neurons in the posterior amygdala projecting to the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus.the VGluT1 neurons in the posterior amygdala form excitatory projections to the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. In the aggressive behavior paradigm, the intensity of its neural activity is closely related to whether the mice launch aggressive behavior.source: brain science and intelligent technology innovation center of Chinese Academy of Sciences