Impulsivity, aggression, and serotonin: a molecular psychobiological perspective

Abstract

The expression of aggressiveness, which constitutes many facets of behavior, is influenced by a complex interaction of biologic, psychologic, and social variables. Even though individual differences in impulsivity and the behavioral consequences, such as aggression, addiction, and suicidality, are substantially heritable, they ultimately result from an interplay between genetic variations and environmental factors. While formation and integration of multiple neural networks is dependent on the actions of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin (5HT), converging lines of evidence indicate that genetically determined variability in serotonergic gene expression influences complex traits including that of inappropriately aggressive behavior. This contribution reviews studies of major gene effects in inbred and knockout strains of mice with increased aggression-related behavior and discusses the relevance of several serotonergic gene variations in humans which include high aggressiveness as part of the phenotype. Although special emphasis is given to the molecular psychobiology of 5HT in aggression-related behavior in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans, relevant conceptual and methodological issues in the search for candidate genes for impulsivity and aggressiveness and for the development of mouse models of aggressive and antisocial behavior in humans are also considered.