Cited by 154Circadian rhythm and melatoninNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

A hypothalamic circuit for the circadian control of aggression

Open access
Todd, William D., Fenselau, Henning, Wang, Joshua L., Zhang, Rong, Machado, Natalia L., Venner, Anne, Broadhurst, Rebecca Y., Kaur, Satvinder +5 more·2018·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

'Sundowning' in dementia and Alzheimer's disease is characterized by early-evening agitation and aggression. While such periodicity suggests a circadian origin, whether the circadian clock directly regulates aggressive behavior is unknown. We demonstrate that a daily rhythm in aggression propensity in male mice is gated by GABAergic subparaventricular zone (SPZ GABA) neurons, the major postsynaptic targets of the central circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Optogenetic mapping revealed that SPZ GABA neurons receive input from vasoactive intestinal polypeptide suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons and innervate neurons in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), which is known to regulate aggression. Additionally, VMH-projecting dorsal SPZ neurons are more active during early day than early night, and acute chemogenetic inhibition of SPZ GABA transmission phase-dependently increases aggression. Finally, SPZ GABA-recipient central VMH neurons directly innervate ventrolateral VMH neurons, and activation of this intra-VMH circuit drove attack behavior. Altogether, we reveal a functional polysynaptic circuit by which the suprachiasmatic nucleus clock regulates aggression.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41593-018-0126-0

Cites

58 of 58 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Rhythms in the propensity of aggressive behaviours are modulated via a polysynaptic circuit from VIP neurons in the SCN to GABAergic neurons of the subparaventricular zone, which innervate the ventromedial hypothalamus.

    “A recent study in mice revealed that rhythms in the propensity of aggressive behaviours are modulated via a polysynaptic circuit from VIP neurons in the SCN to GABAergic neurons of the subparaventricular zone, which in turn innervate the ventromedial hypothalamus, an area known to regulate aggression283.”
  • In mice, a neural circuit involving projections from the SCN to the ventromedial hypothalamus drives time-of-day-dependent aggressive behaviours.

    “This chemogenetic study in mice reveals a neural circuit involving projections from the SCN to the ventromedial hypothalamus that drives time-of-day-dependent aggressive behaviours.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [52]Burgos-Artizzu XP Dollar P Lin D Anderson DJ Perona P IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Providence Rhode Island 2012

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Todd, W. D., Fenselau, H., Wang, J. L., Zhang, R., Machado, N. L., Venner, A., Broadhurst, R. Y., Kaur, S., Lynagh, T., Olson, D. P., Lowell, B. B., Fuller, P. M., & Saper, C. B.
Affiliations
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
  • Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
  • University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Saper, Clifford B.
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2018-04-09
Volume
21
Issue
5
Pages
717-724
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W2797554353
Cited by
154
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 1
FWCI
10.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Alzheimer's Association (AARF-16-443613)
  • California Institute of Technology
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (2014‐0)
  • National Institutes of Health (HL00701-15, DK057521, DK089044, DK111401, HL095491, DK046200, NS073613, NS072337)
  • National Institute on Aging (R03AG062883, P01AG009975)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (P01HL095491, T32HL007901)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK057521, R01DK075632, R01DK089044, P30DK046200, K08DK071561, R01DK111401, R01DK096010)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS072337, R01NS092652, R01NS085477, R01NS103161, F32NS084582, R01NS073613)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
circadian clock, aggression, suprachiasmatic nucleus, GABAergic neurons, ventromedial hypothalamus, vasoactive intestinal peptide, attack behavior, sundowning, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, chemogenetic inhibition
MeSH terms
Aggression, Animals, Brain Mapping, Circadian Rhythm, Corticosterone, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Hypothalamus, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Neural Pathways, Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide, Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Mice, Optogenetics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review