Multidisciplinary Collaborative Research: Amines and Agonistic Behavior in Crustaceans

大脑中的一些生化物质显然会影响行为;例如，高水平的胺化合物血清素与许多脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的攻击性有关。 在脊椎动物复杂的大脑中，很难研究特定的化学物质如何影响特定的单个神经细胞或神经元的功能。 相比之下，一些无脊椎动物的大型可识别神经元数量有限，允许在被认为涉及的精确细胞水平上分析复杂的行为过程。 三个不同实验室的这项合作工作利用了小龙虾的良好研究行为和这些动物非常容易接近的神经系统作为模型系统。 使用多种行为、药理学、分子和生理学方法来确定胺化合物如何调节其社会等级中的优势和非优势动物的攻击性活动，以及特定的含胺神经细胞在这些行为中如何重要。 这项工作的结果将是理解某些细胞作为神经递质使用的化合物如何对调节行为产生影响的基础。 通过澄清胺在复杂行为过程中的作用，例如动物神经系统中的攻击性远比这个模型系统复杂，结果将超越细胞神经科学和神经行为学对行为神经科学和心理学的其他领域产生影响。

Some biochemicals in the brain apparently affect behavior; for example, a high level of the amine compound serotonin has been linked to aggression in a wide range of both vertebrate and invertebrate species. It is very difficult in the complex brain of vertebrate animals to study the way in which particular chemicals affect the function of particular single nerve cells, or neurons. In contrast, some invertebrate animals have limited numbers of large identifiable neurons, allowing analysis of complex behavioral processes at the level of the precise cells thought to be involved. This collaborative work in three different laboratories exploits the well-studied behavior of crayfish and the very accessible nervous system of these animals, as a model system. A variety of behavioral, pharmacological, molecular and physiological approaches are used to determine how amine compounds modulate the aggressive activity of dominant and non-dominant animals in their social hierarchies, and how particular amine- containing nerve cells are important in these behaviors. Results from this work will be fundamental to understanding how compounds that are used by certain cells as neural transmitters also can have effects on modulating behavior. By clarifying the roles of amines in complex behavioral processes, such as aggression in the nervous systems of animals far more complex than this model system, the results will have an impact beyond cellular neuroscience and neuroethology to other areas of behavior neuroscience and psychology.