Serotonin and Aggressive Motivation in Crustaceans: Altering the Decision to Retreat

In crustaceans, as in most animal species, the amine serotonin has been suggested to serve important roles in aggression. Here we show that injection of serotonin into the hemolymph of subordinate, freely moving animals results in a renewed willingness of these animals to engage the dominants in fur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1997-05, Vol.94 (11), p.5939-5942
Main Authors: Huber, Robert, Smith, Kalim, Delago, Antonia, Isaksson, Karin, Kravitz, Edward A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression - drug effects
Aggressiveness
Amines
Animal behavior
Animals
Astacoidea - physiology
Astacus astacus
Behavioral neuroscience
Biological Sciences
Crayfish
Crustaceans
Fluoxetine - pharmacology
Freshwater
Hemolymph
Human aggression
Infusions, Parenteral
Lobsters
Mollusks
Motivation
Multivariate Analysis
Nephropidae
Neurology
Neurons
Octopamine - pharmacology
Serotonin - administration & dosage
Serotonin - pharmacology
Time Factors
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Summary:In crustaceans, as in most animal species, the amine serotonin has been suggested to serve important roles in aggression. Here we show that injection of serotonin into the hemolymph of subordinate, freely moving animals results in a renewed willingness of these animals to engage the dominants in further agonistic encounters. By multivariate statistical analysis, we demonstrate that this reversal results principally from a reduction in the likelihood of retreat and an increase in the duration of fighting. Serotonin infusion does not alter other aspects of fighting behavior, including which animal initiates an encounter, how quickly fighting escalates, or which animal eventually retreats. Preliminary studies suggest that serotonin uptake plays an important role in this behavioral reversal.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.94.11.5939