Citation

Coccaro EF, Lee R, Owens MJ, Kinkead B, Nemeroff CB. Biol. Psychiatry 2012; 72(3): 238-243.

Affiliation

Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Chicago, IL.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.02.023

PMID

22449753

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Neurochemical studies have pointed to a modulatory role in human aggression for a variety of central neurotransmitters; some seem to play an inhibitory role, whereas others seem to play a facilitory role in the modulation of aggression. Laboratory animal studies of substance P suggest a facilitory role for this undecapeptide in the modulation of aggression, but no studies of substance P have yet been reported with regard to human aggression. METHODS: Basal lumbar cerebrospinal fluid samples were obtained from 38 physically healthy subjects with personality disorder (PD) and substance P-like immunoreactivity was measured and correlated with measures of aggression and impulsivity. RESULTS: The cerebrospinal fluid substance P-like immunoreactivity levels were directly correlated with a composite measure of aggression and, more specifically, with Buss-Durkee Aggression. No correlation was seen with any measure of impulsivity or of general dimensions of personality. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest a direct relationship between central nervous system substance P containing neural circuits and aggression in human subjects. This finding adds to the complex picture of the central neuromodulatory role of impulsive aggression in human subjects.

Language: en