Taehong Yang, Cindy F Yang, M Delara Chizari, Niru Maheswaranathan, Kenneth J Burke, Maxim Borius, Sayaka Inoue, Michael C Chiang, Kevin J Bender, Surya Ganguli, Nirao M Shah
How environmental and physiological signals interact to influence neural circuits underlying developmentally programmed social interactions such as male territorial aggression is poorly understood. We have tested the influence of sensory cues, social context, and sex hormones on progesterone receptor (PR)-expressing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) that are critical for male territorial aggression. We find that these neurons can drive aggressive displays in solitary males independent of pheromonal input, gonadal hormones, opponents, or social context...
August 16, 2017: Neuron