Citation

Flanigan M, Aleyasin H, Takahashi A, Golden SA, Russo SJ. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 2017; 162: 79-86.

Affiliation

Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: scott.russo@mssm.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.pbb.2017.05.003

PMID

28499809

Abstract

Inter-male aggression is an essential component of social behavior in organisms from insects to humans. However, when expressed inappropriately, aggression poses significant threats to the mental and physical health of both the aggressor and the target. Inappropriate aggression is a common feature of numerous neuropsychiatric disorders in humans and has been hypothesized to result from the atypical activation of reward circuitry in response to social targets. The lateral habenula (LHb) has recently been identified as a major node of the classical reward circuitry and inhibits the release of dopamine from the midbrain to signal negative valence. Here, we discuss the evidence linking LHb function to aggression and its valence, arguing that strong LHb outputs to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) are likely to play roles in aggression and its rewarding components. Future studies should aim to elucidate how various inputs and outputs of the LHb shape motivation and reward in the context of aggression.

Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

Aggression; Bullying; Mesolimbic dopamine circuit; Reward