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Differential Effects of Ethanol on Feline Rage and Predatory Attack Behavior: An Underlying Neural Mechanism
Author(s) -
Schubert Kristie,
Shaikh Majid B.,
Han Yuchan,
Poherecky Larissa,
Siegel Allan
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb05267.x
Subject(s) - periaqueductal gray , neuroscience , rage (emotion) , excitatory postsynaptic potential , midbrain , long term potentiation , ethanol , antagonist , chemistry , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , pharmacology , psychology , biology , central nervous system , medicine , receptor , biochemistry
Previous studies have shown that, at certain dose levels, ethanol can exert a powerful, facilitory effect on aggressive behavior in both animals and humans. In the cat, however, it was discovered that ethanol differentially alters two forms of aggression that are common to this species. Defensive rage behavior is significantly enhanced, whereas predatory attack behavior is suppressed by ethanol administration. One possible mechanism governing alcohol's potentiation of defensive rage behavior is that it acts on the descending pathway from the medial hypothalamus to the midbrain periaq‐ueductal gray (PAG)—an essential pathway for the expression of defensive rage behavior that uses excitatory amino acids as a neu‐rotransmitter. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that the excitatory effects of alcohol on defensive rage behavior are blocked by administration of the N‐methyl‐o‐aspartate antagonist dl‐2‐ami‐no‐7‐phosphoheptanoic acid (AP‐7) when microinjected into the periaqueductal gray, a primary neuronal target of descending fibers from the medial hypothalamus that mediate the expression of defensive rage behavior. Thus, the present study establishes for the first time a specific component of the neural circuit for defensive rage behavior over which the potentiating effects of ethanol are mediated.