美国纽约大学朗格尼医学中心Dayu Lin团队近期取得重要工作进展，他们研究发现下丘脑通路能够帮助抑制对优势对手的攻击行为。相关研究成果2023年4月10日在线发表于《自然—神经科学》杂志上。
研究人员确定从视前内侧区尾部（cMPOAEsr1）的雌激素受体α表达细胞到下丘脑腹内侧（VMHvl）的投射是调节雄性小鼠攻击性行为的重要途径。cMPOAEsr1细胞主要在雄性动物互动期间增加活性，这与头端MPOAEsr1（rMPOAEsr1）细胞的雌性偏向性反应模式不同。cMPOAEsr1细胞对雄性对手的反应与对手的战斗能力相关，小鼠可以根据身体特征进行估计或通过身体对抗进行学习。失活cMPOAEsr1–VMHvl通路会增加攻击性，而激活该通路会抑制自然的雄性间的攻击性。
因此，这一研究表明，cMPOAEsr1是编码对手战斗能力信息的关键群体，该信息可用于通过抑制攻击行为所必需的VMHvl细胞的活性来防止动物与优势对手发生不利冲突。
附：英文原文
Title: A hypothalamic pathway that suppresses aggression toward superior opponents
Author: Wei, Dongyu, Osakada, Takuya, Guo, Zhichao, Yamaguchi, Takashi, Varshneya, Avni, Yan, Rongzhen, Jiang, Yiwen, Lin, Dayu
Issue&Volume: 2023-04-10
Abstract: Aggression is costly and requires tight regulation. Here we identify the projection from estrogen receptor alpha-expressing cells in the caudal part of the medial preoptic area (cMPOAEsr1) to the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) as an essential pathway for modulating aggression in male mice. cMPOAEsr1 cells increase activity mainly during male–male interaction, which differs from the female-biased response pattern of rostral MPOAEsr1 (rMPOAEsr1) cells. Notably, cMPOAEsr1 cell responses to male opponents correlated with the opponents’ fighting capability, which mice could estimate based on physical traits or learn through physical combats. Inactivating the cMPOAEsr1–VMHvl pathway increased aggression, whereas activating the pathway suppressed natural intermale aggression. Thus, cMPOAEsr1 is a key population for encoding opponents’ fighting capability—information that could be used to prevent animals from engaging in disadvantageous conflicts with superior opponents by suppressing the activity of VMHvl cells essential for attack behaviors.
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01297-5
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01297-5
Nature Neuroscience：《自然—神经科学》，创刊于1998年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：28.771
官方网址：https://www.nature.com/neuro/
投稿链接：https://mts-nn.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex
本期文章：《自然—神经科学》：Online/在线发表
