Monoaminergic control of affective aggression.

The aim of the present study is to present the experimental evidence, mainly that collected over recent years by the author, in support of the involvement of the dopaminergic mesolimbic system in the mechanism of affective aggression in the rat and its interactions with other monoaminergic systems. Dopamine has been found to play an important facilitatory role in affective aggression, accomplished, at least in its essential part by the mesolimbic A10 neurons projecting into the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS). Norepinephrine inhibits this behavior, the effect being mediated by the locus coeruleus ascending neurons reaching NAS and the amygdala (AMY), and involving activation of alpha 1 adrenoceptors. Also serotonergic effects on affective aggression are of inhibitory nature. They are conveyed by the neurons of the dorsal raphe, but not of the median raphe, projecting into the AMY. The NAS does not play any important part in the serotonergic control of aggression. There appears to exist a reciprocal interaction between these three monoaminergic systems in respect to their modulatory function in affective aggression. The significance of these findings for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of violent behavior in the clinic is discussed.