Effects of early life stress on adult male aggression and hypothalamic vasopressin and serotonin.

Veenema, Alexa H.; Blume, Annegret; Niederle, Daniela; Buwalda, Bauke; Neumann, Inga D.

doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05045.x

Cited by 271Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorStress Responses and CortisolNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Effects of early life stress on adult male aggression and hypothalamic vasopressin and serotonin.

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Veenema, Alexa H., Blume, Annegret, Niederle, Daniela, Buwalda, Bauke, Neumann, Inga D.·2006·European Journal of Neuroscience

DOI 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05045.x

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Abstract

Early life stress in humans enhances the risk for psychopathologies, including excessive aggression and violence. In rodents, maternal separation is a potent early life stressor inducing long-lasting changes in emotional and neuroendocrine responsiveness to stress, associated with depression- and anxiety-like symptoms. However, effects of maternal separation on adult male aggression and underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effects of maternal separation on adult intermale aggression in Wistar rats and on hypothalamic arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA expression, and AVP and serotonin (5-HT) immunoreactivity, as both AVP and 5-HT have been implicated in stress-coping and aggression. We showed that maternal separation induced depression-like behaviour (increased immobility) and higher adrenocorticotropin hormone responses to an acute stressor (forced swimming). Intermale aggression (lateral threat, offensive upright and keep down) was significantly higher in maternally separated rats compared with control rats. AVP mRNA expression and AVP immunoreactivity were higher in the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei upon resident-intruder test exposure, whereas 5-HT immunoreactivity was decreased in the anterior hypothalamus of maternally separated rats. Moreover, 5-HT immunoreactivity in the anterior hypothalamus and supraoptic nucleus correlated negatively with aggression. These findings show that exposure to early life st…

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In rodents, maternal separation leads to increased aggressive behaviors in male rats but not in male mice.
“In rodents, MS leads to increased aggressive behaviors in male rats (Veenema et al. 2006), but perplexingly not in male mice (Veenema et al. 2007; Tsuda et al. 2011).”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as Veenema et al. 2006
In the PVN, AVP mRNA expression is altered by experimental manipulations that impact agonistic and affiliative interactions, including play.
“In the PVN, AVP mRNA expression is altered by experimental manipulations that impact agonistic and affiliative interactions, including play (Veenema et al., 2006; Veenema and Neumann, 2009; Murakami et al., 2011; De Souza et al., 2013).”
From Sexually dimorphic role for vasopressin in the development of social play (2014) · cites this paper as Veenema et al., 2006
Early life stress elicits both increased play fighting and adult aggressive behaviors in different species.
“This finding is consistent with former observations in different species showing that both increased play fighting and adult aggressive behaviors are elicited by early life stress.”
From Peripubertal stress increases play fighting at adolescence and modulates nucleus accumbens CB1 receptor expression and mitochondrial function in the amygdala (2018) · cites this paper as [29]

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Authors: Veenema, A. H., Blume, A., Niederle, D., Buwalda, B., & Neumann, I. D.
Affiliations: University of Regensburg (DE)
University of Groningen (NL)
ORCID: Veenema, Alexa H.
Neumann, Inga D.
Venue: European Journal of Neuroscience
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2006-09
Volume: 24
Issue: 6
Pages: 1711-1720
ISSN: 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
1460-9568
DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05045.x
OpenAlex: W2070173588
Cited by: 271
References: 6
Citations by year: 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 18
FWCI: 14.69
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
research.rug.nl
Licence: other-oa
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 20 d)
Locations: European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (acceptedVersion)
University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: Volkswagen Foundation
Bayerische Forschungsstiftung
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords: early life stress, maternal separation, male-male aggression, vasopressin, serotonin, hypothalamus, depression-like behavior, ACTH, stress coping, paraventricular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, resident-intruder test, Wistar rats
MeSH terms: Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Aggression, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Behavior, Animal, Corticosterone, Female, Hypothalamus, Immunohistochemistry, Male, Maternal Deprivation, Radioimmunoassay, Restraint, Physical, Serotonin, Stress, Psychological, Testosterone, Vasopressins, Rats, Wistar, In Situ Hybridization, Rats

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Effects of early life stress on adult male aggression and hypothalamic vasopressin and serotonin.

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