[The effect of the domestication of Norway rats and silver foxes on the serotonin S1A- and S2-receptors of the brain].

The specific radioligand binding of serotonin 5-HT1A and 5-HT2 receptors was determined in the frontal cortex and in the hypothalamus of Norway rats and silver foxes. Aggressive wild rats and silver foxes and animals selected for many generations for nonaggressive behavior towards man (domestication) were compared. The binding of the 5-HT1A receptors was found to be significantly higher in domesticated Norway rats and lower in domesticated foxes than in aggressive animals. The specific binding of the 5-HT2 receptors was found to be similar in aggressive and domesticated animals, both in rats and foxes. The data obtained indicate the involvement of 5-HT1A receptors in the hypothalamus into the process of domestication.