Neuropeptide Modulation of Aggression

描述(申请人提供)：攻击性是一种普遍存在的行为，在建立领土、获取食物来源和交配成功等社交活动中非常重要。过度攻击性也是一些神经退行性疾病的症状之一。胺能递质，如5-羟色胺、多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素(或其无脊椎动物同系物，章鱼胺)是一类公认的神经递质，在攻击中发挥作用。在脊椎动物中，两个多肽家族(AVP和GnRH多肽家族)在攻击中的重要作用也已被确定，但在无脊椎动物系统中对它们的研究较少。 通过行为分析、免疫细胞化学检测多肽和胺的共存，以及GAL4/UAS系统对神经肽释放的遗传操纵，将在果蝇模型中研究多肽在攻击中的作用，这将允许对战斗行为进行严格的量化。这里提出的目的是探索这样的可能性：(1)神经肽与生物胺在黑腹毛虫神经系统中共表达；(2)共表达的多肽或与胺神经元相互作用的多肽在调节攻击行为中发挥作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Aggression is a ubiquitous behavior important in social interactions such as the establishment of territory, access to food source, and mating success. Excessive aggression is also one symptom of some neurodegenerative disorders. Aminergic transmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine (or its invertebrate homologue, octopamine) are one well-established category of neurotransmitter that play a role in aggression. In vertebrates, important roles for two families of peptides in aggression also have been established (AVP and GnRH peptide families) but these have been less well studied in invertebrate systems. With the use of behavioral analysis, immunocytochemistry to examine the co-localization of peptides and amines, and the GAL4/UAS system to genetically manipulate neuropeptide release, the role of peptides in aggression will be examined in a Drosophila model, which allows for the rigorous quantification of fighting behavior. The aims proposed here explore the possibility: (I) that neuropeptides are co-expressed with biogenic amines in the D. melanogaster nervous system; and (II) that the co-expressed peptides or peptides that interact with amine neurons play a role in regulating aggression.