PSYCHOMOTOR STIMULANTS AND AGGRESSION

拟议研究的总体目标是了解 精神兴奋剂的行为效应是由 个人过去与特定社会和攻击性的经历 行为 我们建议调查过去在多大程度上 攻击性、顺从性、性或母性行为调节神经 对随后的行为影响至关重要的过程 精神兴奋剂 或者，我们将研究如何 药理学经验，特别是阿片激动剂，调节 神经过程是精神刺激的目标 兴奋剂 从持续暴露于阿片类药物中戒断将是一个重点 我们的研究，因为它是与高度侵略性， 对作用于脑内儿茶酚胺的药物过敏。 后 已经建立了特定的行为或药理学史， 最初战略将依赖于挑战个人的挑战 在一系列的行为任务中。 “行为分析”包括 反身反应以及复杂的社交和攻击性 行为和时间表控制的行为。 当从 药理学研究，我们将分析特定的大脑区域， 儿茶酚胺和阿片肽被定位，以了解 与行为药物相关的直接神经化学变化 方面的影响. 拟议工作的另一个目的涉及详细的定量 分析药物对复杂的社会和攻击行为的作用。 通过 使用计算机记录技术，每时每刻的细节， 药物改变的行为被准确地测量。 这些信息保证 为了更精确地描述介导神经生物学机制， 对攻击性的精神刺激作用。

The overall objective of the proposed research is to learn how the behavioral effects of psychomotor stimulants are determined by an individual's past experiences with specific social and aggressive behavior. We propose to investigate to what extent past experiences with aggressive, submissive, sexual or maternal behavior modulate neural processes that are critical for subsequent behavioral effects of psychomotor stimulants. Alternatively, we will be studying how pharmacological experiences, particularly with opiate agonists, modulate the neural processes that are the targets for the effects of psychomotor stimulants. Withdrawal from continuous exposure to opiates will be a focus of our studies since it is associated with heightened aggression and with hypersensitivity to drugs that act on brain catecholamines. After a specific behavioral or pharmacological history has been established, the initial strategy will rely on challenging an individual pharmacologically during a range of behavioral tasks. The "behavioral assays" include measures of reflexive responses as well as complex social and aggressive behaviors, and schedule-controlled behavior. When indicated from the pharmacological studies we will assay specific brain regions in which catecholamines and opioid peptides are localized in order to learn about direct neurochemical changes that are associated with behavioral drug effects. A further aim of the proposed work concerns the detailed quantitative analysis of drug action on complex social and aggressive behavior. By using computerized recording techniques, the moment-to-moment details of drug-altered behavior are accurately measured. This information promises to more precisely delineate the mediating neurobiological mechanisms for psychomotor stimulant effects on aggression.