Westergaard G C, Suomi S J, Higley J D, Mehlman P T
Division of Research, LABS of Virginia, Inc., 95 Castle Hall Road, P. O. Box 557, Yemassee, SC 29945, USA.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1999 Oct;146(4):440-6. doi: 10.1007/pl00005489.
While the relationship among CSF 5-HIAA, impulsivity, and aggression is well characterized in males, its investigation in females is limited, and no studies have assessed its generalizability across primates by making simultaneous comparisons between and within closely-related species.
We tested three hypotheses. First, that female rhesus macaques would have lower CSF 5-HIAA concentrations and be more aggressive than would female pigtailed macaques. Second, that females of both macaque species would exhibit an inverse relationship between interindividual differences in CSF 5-HIAA concentrations and rates of severe aggression. Third, that subjects with high CSF 5-HIAA concentrations would be higher in social dominance within their respective groups than would subjects with low CSF 5-HIAA concentrations.
We obtained CSF samples from 61 individually housed female primates of two closely related species: rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina). We later placed subjects in unisex social groups, and correlated interindividual differences in CSF 5-HIAA with aggression, wounding, and acquisition of social dominance rank.
Between-species analyses indicated higher CSF 5-HIAA concentrations in pigtailed macaques, and higher rates of high-intensity aggression, escalated aggression, and wounds requiring medical treatment in rhesus macaques. Within-species analyses indicated that interindividual differences in CSF 5-HIAA concentrations were inversely correlated with escalated aggression and positively correlated with social dominance rank.
These findings show that agonistic and social differences between closely-related species are correlated with CNS serotonin activity, as species that show relatively high rates of severe aggression also tend to have low concentrations of CSF 5-HIAA. We conclude that serotonergic functioning plays an important role in controlling impulses that regulate severe aggression and social dominance relationships in both male and female primates, and that between-species differences in agonistic temperament can be predicted by species typical CNS serotonin functioning.
虽然脑脊液5-羟吲哚乙酸（CSF 5-HIAA）、冲动性和攻击性之间的关系在雄性中已有充分描述，但在雌性中的研究有限，且尚无研究通过对密切相关物种之间及物种内部进行同步比较来评估其在灵长类动物中的普遍性。
我们检验了三个假设。第一，恒河猴雌性的脑脊液5-HIAA浓度低于豚尾猴雌性，且比豚尾猴雌性更具攻击性。第二，两种猕猴雌性个体脑脊液5-HIAA浓度的个体差异与严重攻击率呈负相关。第三，脑脊液5-HIAA浓度高的个体在各自群体中的社会优势地位高于脑脊液5-HIAA浓度低的个体。
我们从61只单独饲养的两种密切相关物种的雌性灵长类动物中获取脑脊液样本：恒河猴（猕猴属）和豚尾猴（猪尾猕猴）。随后，我们将这些个体置于男女混合的社会群体中，并将脑脊液5-HIAA的个体差异与攻击性、受伤情况以及社会优势等级的获得进行关联分析。
种间分析表明，豚尾猴的脑脊液5-HIAA浓度较高，而恒河猴的高强度攻击、升级攻击以及需要医疗处理的伤口发生率较高。种内分析表明，脑脊液5-HIAA浓度的个体差异与升级攻击呈负相关，与社会优势等级呈正相关。
这些发现表明，密切相关物种之间的争斗和社会差异与中枢神经系统血清素活性相关，因为表现出相对较高严重攻击率的物种往往脑脊液5-HIAA浓度较低。我们得出结论，血清素功能在控制调节雄性和雌性灵长类动物严重攻击和社会优势关系的冲动方面发挥着重要作用，并且争斗性情的种间差异可以通过物种典型的中枢神经系统血清素功能来预测。
