Neurobiological Bases of Abnormal Aggression and Violent Behaviour

229 Pages·2014·2.46 MB·English

by  József Haller (auth.)

József Haller
Neurobiological
Bases of Abnormal
Aggression and
Violent Behaviour
Neurobiological Bases of Abnormal Aggression and
Violent Behaviour
.
Jo´zsef Haller
Neurobiological Bases of
Abnormal Aggression and
Violent Behaviour
Jo´zsefHaller
DepartmentofBehavioralNeurobiology
InstituteofExperimentalMedicine
Budapest,Hungary
ISBN978-3-7091-1267-0 ISBN978-3-7091-1268-7(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-7091-1268-7
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Preface
Understanding the brain control of aggression was greatly enhanced over the last
decade.Outofthemultitudeofnewdevelopments,thisbookwillprimarily focus
on two: the emergence of abnormal aggression models in animals and the intro-
ductionandexpansionofbrainimagingtechniquesinhumans.Althoughapparently
unrelated, these developments bridged an important gap between animal and
humanaggressionresearch.
In sharp contrast with human research where aggression-related psychopathol-
ogiesare ofmajorinterest,animal research wasforlong dominatedbylaboratory
models of natural aggressiveness. Newly developed models detached from this
classical approach by mimicking etiological factors of aggression-related psycho-
pathologies and by identifying deviant forms of aggression that arise as a conse-
quenceofthesetreatments.Thus,animalresearchgraduallyshiftedfromstudying
aggression as a natural phenomenon to studying models of abnormal aggression.
Recently developed models made clear that laboratory equivalents of etiological
factorsinduceprofoundchangesinbrainfunctionandalterqualitativelytheneural
circuits that are activated by social conflict and that regulate aggressive behavior
underthesecircumstances.
Beforetheadventofbrainimagingtechniques,humanresearchlackedadequate
toolstostudybrainfunction.Thisisinsharpcontrastwithanimalresearchwherea
widerangeofadvancedtechnologiesweredevelopedoverthelastdecades.Inlack
ofappropriateresearchtools,assumptionsonhumanbrainmechanismswerebased
onanimalstudiesthatwereoccasionallycross-checkedbystudiesinvolvingpeople
with accidental brain lesions and by brain stimulation techniques that were rather
infrequentlyemployed.Brainimagingtechniquesprovidepowerfultoolsofinves-
tigation,whichshowedspectacularadvancementsoverthelastdecade.Newtech-
nologies not only allow the study of structural features but also reveal brain
connectivity, neurotransmitter receptor profiles, and other important aspects of
brainfunction.
Inbrief,modelsofabnormalaggressionmadeanimalstudiesmorerelevantfor
human research, while brain imaging techniques made human research more
relevant for understanding brain mechanisms. These newly acquired features of
v
vi Preface
the two main sides of aggression research have the potential to make them closer
partnersandtostartaprocessofintegrationthatisbeneficialforbothsidesandfor
aggressionresearchingeneral.Themainaimofthisbookistocreateaplatformfor
interactive thinking. We strongly believe that the control of aggression in general
and of abnormal aggressiveness in particular cannot be understood without inte-
grating animal findings of translational value and human findings. Close interac-
tionsbetweenthetwosidesofferhumanresearchthechancetotakeadvantageof
thedepthofanalysisallowedbytheadvancedneuroanatomicalandneurofunctional
methodologiescurrentlyusedinanimalresearch,whileresearchonanimalaggres-
sion will greatly benefit from incorporating information on the phenomenon it
models.Thetwodevelopmentsdiscussedhereopenednewchannelsofinformation
exchange and created the possibility of jointly addressing the triple linkage of
etiological factors, brain changes, and behavior and to unravel novel treatment
opportunitiesthattakeintoaccountallthree.Thisbookintendstobethefirststep
towardstheintegrationofconceptsandfindingsthatmakesthispossible.
Budapest,Hungary Jo´zsefHaller
Contents
1 NormalandAbnormalAggressions:DefinitionsandOperational
Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 DemarcatingandCharacterizingAggression:Theoretical
Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 BasicDefinitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 DefinitionsforSubtypes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.3 NormalandAbnormalAggressions:BasicPrinciples. .. . 5
1.1.4 ATheoreticalClassificationofAggressiveBehaviors. . . 7
1.2 QuantifyingAggression:OperationalApproaches. . .. . . .. . . .. 9
1.2.1 ModelsofNormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . . . . .. . . 9
1.2.2 ModelsofAbnormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.3 ClassificationofAbnormalAggressionModels. . . . . . . . 19
1.2.4 NormalandAbnormalAggressionsinHumans. . . . . . . . 20
1.2.5 ClassificationsofOperationalApproachesinHumans. . . 27
1.3 Definitions,Approaches,andtheValidityofConclusions. . . . . . 29
2 HormonalDeterminants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1 HormonesandBrainFunction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2 Testosterone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2.1 MechanismsofAction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.2 DevelopmentalEffectsonAggressioninAnimals
andHumans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2.3 PostpubertalEffectsinAnimals:NormalandAbnormal
Aggressions. . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. 41
2.2.4 DoesTestosteroneAffectAggressioninHumans?. . . . . . 46
2.2.5 TestosteroneandAbnormalAggressioninHumans. . . . . 50
2.2.6 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.3 Glucocorticoids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.3.1 MechanismsofAction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.3.2 NormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. 55
2.3.3 AbnormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
vii
viii Contents
2.3.4 HealthyHumanControls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.3.5 AbnormalAggressioninHumans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.3.6 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.4 OverallEvaluationofHormonalDeterminants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3 NeuralCircuitsSubservingAggression:GeneralModels. . . . . . . . 69
3.1 Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.1.1 Cats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.1.2 Rats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.2 Humans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4 FocalPointsofAggressionControl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1 TheHypothalamus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1.1 HypothalamicallyControlledBehaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1.2 HypothalamicControlofAggressioninAnimals
andHumans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.1.3 HypothalamicMechanismsofAbnormalAggressionin
Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.4 TheHumanCase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.1.5 Overview:EtiologicalFactor-DependentAlterationsinthe
Hypothalamus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.2 ThePrefrontalCortex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.1 PrefrontalAnatomyofViolence:APrelude. . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.2 AnOverallSummaryoftheGeneralView. . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.2.3 ProblemswiththeGeneralView. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.2.4 The“PsychologicalLandscape”Hypothesis. . . . . . . . . . 112
4.2.5 The“NeuralNetwork”Hypothesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.3 TheAmygdala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.3.1 StructureandGeneralRolesinBehavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4.3.2 NormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. 124
4.3.3 AbnormalAggressioninAnimals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.3.4 NormalandAbnormalAggressionsinHumans. . . . . . . . 129
4.3.5 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.4 ThePeriaqueductalGray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.4.1 TheRoleofthePeriaqueductalGray(PAG)inBehavioral
Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.4.2 TheRoleofthePAGinAnimalAggression. . . . . . . . . . 138
4.4.3 TheRoleofthePAGinHumanAggression. . . . . . . . . . 143
4.4.4 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5 TheRoleofEmergingTechniquesinUnderstandingAggression. . . 145
5.1 Optogenetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.2 Epigenetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.3 FunctionalPharmacology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.4 GeneticsandPharmacogenetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.5 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Contents ix
6 SummaryandSynthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.1 Who’sFlyingthePlaneandWhatKindofPlane?. . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.2 BehaviorandBrainFunctioninAnimalAggression. . . . . . . . . . 152
6.2.1 NormalAggression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.2.2 AbnormalAggression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.2.3 TheRoleofthePrefrontalCortex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.3 BehaviorandBrainFunctioninHumanAggression. . . . . . . . . . 158
6.3.1 TheDualTheoryofAggression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
6.3.2 TypesofAggressionandBrainFunction. . . . . .. . . . . . . 162
6.4 Hormones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Postscript. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215