An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions
Abstract While aggression is an adaptive behavior mostly triggered by competition for resources, it can also in and of itself be rewarding. Based on the common notion that female rats are not aggressive, much of aggression research has been centered around males, leading to a gap in the understandin...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Translational Psychiatry |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02608-x |
| _version_ | 1827780990149328896 |
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| author | Stina Börchers Jil Carl Katharina Schormair Jean-Philippe Krieger Mohammed Asker Christian E. Edvardsson Elisabeth Jerlhag Karolina P. Skibicka |
| author_facet | Stina Börchers Jil Carl Katharina Schormair Jean-Philippe Krieger Mohammed Asker Christian E. Edvardsson Elisabeth Jerlhag Karolina P. Skibicka |
| author_sort | Stina Börchers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract While aggression is an adaptive behavior mostly triggered by competition for resources, it can also in and of itself be rewarding. Based on the common notion that female rats are not aggressive, much of aggression research has been centered around males, leading to a gap in the understanding of the female aggression neurobiology. Therefore, we asked whether intact virgin female rats experience reward from an aggressive interaction and assessed aggression seeking behavior in rats of both sexes. To validate the involvement of reward signaling, we measured mesolimbic dopamine turnover and determined the necessity of dopamine signaling for expression of aggression-seeking. Together our data indicate that female rats exhibit aggressive behavior outside of maternal context, experience winning aggressive behaviors as rewarding, and do so to a similar extent as male rats and in a dopamine-dependent manner. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:12:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3d9fdc86c8b34077861c2573c6f5ffb4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-3188 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:12:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Translational Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-3d9fdc86c8b34077861c2573c6f5ffb42023-10-29T12:37:13ZengNature Publishing GroupTranslational Psychiatry2158-31882023-10-011311710.1038/s41398-023-02608-xAn appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactionsStina Börchers0Jil Carl1Katharina Schormair2Jean-Philippe Krieger3Mohammed Asker4Christian E. Edvardsson5Elisabeth Jerlhag6Karolina P. Skibicka7Department of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Pharmacology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Pharmacology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgDepartment of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, University of GothenburgAbstract While aggression is an adaptive behavior mostly triggered by competition for resources, it can also in and of itself be rewarding. Based on the common notion that female rats are not aggressive, much of aggression research has been centered around males, leading to a gap in the understanding of the female aggression neurobiology. Therefore, we asked whether intact virgin female rats experience reward from an aggressive interaction and assessed aggression seeking behavior in rats of both sexes. To validate the involvement of reward signaling, we measured mesolimbic dopamine turnover and determined the necessity of dopamine signaling for expression of aggression-seeking. Together our data indicate that female rats exhibit aggressive behavior outside of maternal context, experience winning aggressive behaviors as rewarding, and do so to a similar extent as male rats and in a dopamine-dependent manner.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02608-x |
| spellingShingle | Stina Börchers Jil Carl Katharina Schormair Jean-Philippe Krieger Mohammed Asker Christian E. Edvardsson Elisabeth Jerlhag Karolina P. Skibicka An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions Translational Psychiatry |
| title | An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| title_full | An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| title_fullStr | An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| title_full_unstemmed | An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| title_short | An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| title_sort | appetite for aggressive behavior female rats too derive reward from winning aggressive interactions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02608-x |
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