Modeling Aggression in Syrian Hamsters: The Role of the Nucleus Accumbens

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Syrian hamsters are a valuable, if underused, model system for studying the neurobiology of aggression. Male and female hamsters live in fields where they defend territories surrounding their individual burrows. With repeated aggressive experience, hamsters show an escalation of aggression as measured by a reduction in the time to initiate an attack. In contrast, defeated hamsters develop passivity and subordination. Both the escalation of aggression and development of submission activate the mesolimbic system, though through different circuits. Plasticity in the mesolimbic system mediates these changes in behavior, engaging synaptic transmission via both classic neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. At the same time that both male and female hamsters engage in territorial defense and aggression, there are sex differences in the underlying neurobiological control. These characteristics of hamsters make them an ideal model for studying normal and pathological aggression, along with developing therapeutics to treat pathological aggression separately in males and females.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHandbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence
PublisherSpringer International Publishing
Pages2845-2865
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9783031315473
ISBN (Print)9783031315466
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Keywords

  • Aggression
  • Conditioned defeat
  • Dopamine
  • Escalation
  • Glutamate
  • Medial prefrontal cortex
  • Mesolimbic region
  • Motivation
  • Nucleus accumbens
  • Reward
  • Sex differences
  • Synaptic plasticity
  • Syrian hamsters
  • Ventral tegmental area

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