Perrone Rossana, Silva Ana C
Unidad Bases Neurales de la Conducta, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2018 Jan 18;12:1. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00001. eCollection 2018.
Dominant-subordinate status emerges from agonistic encounters. The weakly electric fish, , displays a clear-cut example of non-breeding territorial aggression. The asymmetry in the behavior of dominants and subordinates is outstanding. Dominants are highly aggressive and subordinates signal submission in a precise sequence of locomotor and electric traits: retreating, decreasing their electric organ discharge rate, and emitting transient electric signals. The hypothalamic neuropeptide arginine-vasotocin (AVT) and its mammalian homolog arginine-vasopressin, are key modulators of social behavior, known to adapt their actions to different contexts. By analyzing the effects of pharmacological manipulations of the AVT system in both dominants and subordinates, we show evidence of distinct status-dependent actions of AVT. We demonstrate an endogenous effect of AVT on dominants' aggression levels: blocking the V1a AVT receptor induced a significant decrease in dominants' attack rate. AVT administered to subordinates enhanced the expression of the electric signals of submission, without affecting subordinates' locomotor displays. This study contributes a clear example of status-dependent AVT modulation of agonistic behavior in teleosts, and reveals distinctive activation patterns of the AVT system between dominants and subordinates.
优势-从属地位源自争斗性遭遇。弱电鱼展现出了非繁殖期领地攻击行为的一个典型例子。优势个体和从属个体行为上的不对称十分显著。优势个体极具攻击性，而从属个体则通过一系列精确的运动和电信号特征来表示屈服：后退、降低其电器官放电率，并发出短暂的电信号。下丘脑神经肽精氨酸血管加压素（AVT）及其哺乳动物同源物精氨酸加压素，是社会行为的关键调节因子，已知它们会根据不同情境调整自身作用。通过分析对优势个体和从属个体的AVT系统进行药物干预的效果，我们发现了AVT存在依赖于地位的不同作用的证据。我们证明了AVT对优势个体攻击水平的内源性影响：阻断V1a型AVT受体可导致优势个体的攻击率显著下降。给从属个体注射AVT可增强屈服电信号的表达，而不影响从属个体的运动表现。这项研究为硬骨鱼中AVT对争斗行为的地位依赖性调节提供了一个清晰的例子，并揭示了优势个体和从属个体之间AVT系统不同的激活模式。
