Neurobiology of Female Aggression

众所周知，在哺乳动物中，雄性具有攻击性，而雌性则没有。尽管常识，这是一个误解，出生于测试和观察动物的社会行为的情况下，有利于男性是积极的。雌性哺乳动物确实具有攻击性，尽管与雄性不同。这种长期存在的，但不正确的观点，攻击性的性别差异阻碍了我们对女性攻击性的生物学基础的理解。因此，这项研究在概念和目标上都具有高度创新性，以纠正我们对女性攻击性神经科学知识的不平衡。这项研究将针对雌性动物中调节攻击性的大脑部位提出一系列特定的假设。在这些大脑区域的神经细胞（神经元）内，特定化学反应平衡的波动被认为是调节雌性动物是否具有攻击性的因素。最后，神经细胞的物理变化是反复攻击性遭遇的结果（至少对于那些遭遇的胜利者）的想法将得到验证。除了研究本身和向公众传播研究结果之外，该研究计划还将用于促进课堂科学教育，以社区活动和讲座的形式提供公共宣传，并激发本科生对科学事业的兴趣。该提案中的研究旨在揭示几个领域中女性攻击性调节的新闻见解。众所周知，赢得一次攻击性的遭遇会增加雌性在未来遭遇中表现出攻击性的可能性。这种基于经验的侵略升级与增加树突棘密度在中型多刺神经元的神经核，一个新的发现，无论是男性或女性。这种结构可塑性的基础是攻击性经历后mTOR和FMRP信号的变化。这项研究确定了FMRP的自然作用及其对脆性X综合征病理学之外的神经元可塑性的调节，这是该研究的另一个创新组成部分。此外，该提案中的研究旨在确定攻击性，细胞内信号传导和核内结构变化之间的功能联系。总的来说，这项研究将测试一个新的假设，即女性存在一个前馈过程，重复的攻击性经历会在未来的遭遇中升级攻击性，从而增加优势并最终繁殖成功。这种行为过程需要神经元信号，在丘脑核中产生长期可塑性。总的来说，这项研究将详细了解女性攻击性的神经生物学，在我们如何看待女性哺乳动物的攻击性方面产生变革性的转变。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Public Award AbstractEveryone knows that among mammals males are aggressive and females are not. Despite the common knowledge, this is a misconception that was born from testing and observing animal social behavior is situations that favored males to be aggressive. Female mammals are indeed aggressive, though in different circumstances than are males. This long-standing, but incorrect view, of sex differences in aggression has hindered our understanding of the biology underlying aggression in females. This research is therefore highly innovative in its concept and as well as its goal to correct the imbalance in our knowledge of the neuroscience of female aggression. The research will address a specific set of hypotheses targeted at brain sites regulating aggression in female animals. Within the nerve cells (neurons) in these brain areas, fluctuations in the balance of specific chemical reactions are proposed to regulate whether or not female animals engage in aggression. Finally, the idea that the nerve cells physically change as a result of repeated aggressive encounters (at least for the winners of those encounters) will be tested. Beyond the research itself and communicating the results of the research to the public, the research program will be used to foster science education in the classroom, provide public outreach in the form of community events and lectures, and to generate interest in scientific careers for undergraduate students.The research in this proposal is designed to uncover news insights into the regulation of female aggression in several realms. It is well known that winning an aggressive encounter increases the likelihood that females will be aggressive in future encounters. This experience-based escalation of aggression correlates with increased dendritic spine density in medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens, a novel finding for either males or females. Underlying this structural plasticity are changes in mTOR and FMRP signaling following aggressive experiences. This research identifies a natural role for FMRP and its regulation of neuronal plasticity beyond the pathology of fragile X syndrome, a research direction that is another innovative component of the proposed research. Further, the research in this proposal is designed to identify a functional link between aggression, intracellular signaling and structural changes in the nucleus accumbens. Overall, the research will test the novel hypothesis that there is a feed-forward process with repeated aggressive experience in females that escalates aggression in future encounters, thus increasing dominance and ultimately reproductive success. This behavioral process requires neuronal signaling that produces long-term plasticity in the nucleus accumbens. Collectively, the research will develop a detailed understanding of the neurobiology of female aggression, yielding a transformational shift in how we view aggression in female mammals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.