Citation

Coccaro EF, Lee R, Liu T, Mathé AA. Biol. Psychiatry 2012; 72(12): 997-1003.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience (EFC, RL), Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; and Institution of Clinical Neuroscience (TL, AAM), Division of Psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: ecoccaro@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.07.029

PMID

22985695

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Neurochemical studies have pointed to a modulatory role in human aggression for a number of central neurotransmitters; some (e.g., serotonin) appear to play an inhibitory role, while others (e.g., vasopressin) appear to play a facilitator role in the modulation of aggression. While recent animal studies of neuropeptide Y (NPY) have suggested a facilitator role for central NPY in the modulation of aggression, no human studies of central NPY have yet been reported regarding aggression. METHODS: Basal lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained from 60 physically healthy subjects with personality disorder (PD) (n=40) and from healthy volunteers (n=20). These samples were then assessed for CSF NPY-like immunoreactivity (NPY-LI) and other neurotransmitter-related species in CSF and correlated with measures of aggression and impulsivity. RESULTS: Cerebrospinal fluid NPY-LI was higher in PD subjects compared with healthy volunteers and in subjects with intermittent explosive disorder compared with those without intermittent explosive disorder. In PD subjects, CSF NPY-LI was directly correlated with composite measures of aggression and impulsivity and a composite measure of impulsive aggression. Group differences in CSF NPY-LI concentration were accounted for by measures of impulsive aggression. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest a direct relationship between CSF NPY-immunoreactivity concentration and measures of impulsive aggression in human subjects. This adds to the complex picture of the central neuromodulatory role of impulsive aggression in human subjects.

Language: en