Neuroendocrine Mechanisms Underlying Non-breeding Aggression: Common Strategies Between Birds and Fish
Aggression is an adaptive behavior that plays an important role in gaining access to limited resources. Aggression may occur uncoupled from reproduction, thus offering a valuable context to further understand its neural and hormonal regulation. This review focuses on the contributions from song spar...
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Published in | Frontiers in neural circuits Vol. 15; p. 716605 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Research Foundation
29.07.2021
Frontiers Media S.A |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Aggression is an adaptive behavior that plays an important role in gaining access to limited resources. Aggression may occur uncoupled from reproduction, thus offering a valuable context to further understand its neural and hormonal regulation. This review focuses on the contributions from song sparrows (
) and the weakly electric banded knifefish (
). Together, these models offer clues about the underlying mechanisms of non-breeding aggression, especially the potential roles of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and brain-derived estrogens. The orexigenic NPY is well-conserved between birds and teleost fish, increases in response to low food intake, and influences sex steroid synthesis. In non-breeding
, NPY increases in the social behavior network, and NPY-Y1 receptor expression is upregulated in response to a territorial challenge. In
, NPY is upregulated in the preoptic area of dominant, but not subordinate, individuals. We hypothesize that NPY may signal a seasonal decrease in food availability and promote non-breeding aggression. In both animal models, non-breeding aggression is estrogen-dependent but gonad-independent. In non-breeding
, neurosteroid synthesis rapidly increases in response to a territorial challenge. In
, brain aromatase is upregulated in dominant but not subordinate fish. In both species, the dramatic decrease in food availability in the non-breeding season may promote non-breeding aggression, via changes in NPY and/or neurosteroid signaling. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 Edited by: Gervasio Batista, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., United States Reviewed by: John C. Wingfield, University of California, Davis, United States; Kent D. Dunlap, Trinity College, United States |
ISSN: | 1662-5110 1662-5110 |
DOI: | 10.3389/fncir.2021.716605 |