Interplay between aggression, brain monoamines and fur color mutation in the American mink.

Domestication of wild animals alters the aggression towards humans, brain monoamines and coat pigmentation. Our aim is the interplay between aggression, brain monoamines and depigmentation. The Hedlund white mutation in the American mink is an extreme case of depigmentation observed in domesticated animals. The aggressive (-2.06 ± 0.03) and tame (+3.5 ± 0.1) populations of wild-type dark brown color (standard) minks were bred during 17 successive generations for aggressive or tame reaction towards humans, respectively. The Hedlund mutation was transferred to the aggressive and tame backgrounds to generate aggressive (-1.2 ± 0.1) and tame (+3.0 ± 0.2) Hedlund minks. Four groups of 10 males with equal expression of aggressive (-2) or tame (+5) behavior, standard or with the Hedlund mutation, were selected to study biogenic amines in the brain. Decreased levels of noradrenaline in the hypothalamus, but increased concentrations of the serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid, in the striatum were measured in the tame compared with the aggressive standard minks. The Hedlund mutation increased noradrenaline level in the hypothalamus and substantia nigra, serotonin level in the substantia nigra and striatum and decreased dopamine concentration in the hypothalamus and striatum. Significant interaction effects were found between the Hedlund mutation and aggressive behavior on serotonin metabolism in the substantia nigra (P < 0.001), dopamine level in the midbrain (P < 0.01) and its metabolism in the striatum (P < 0.05). These results provide the first experimental evidence of the interplay between aggression, brain monoamines and the Hedlund mutation in the American minks.

Effect of selective agonist of serotonin 5-HT1A receptors on defensive behavior in mice with different predisposition to catalepsy.

We studied the effect of activation of serotonin 5-HT1A receptors with selective agonist 8-OH-DPAT (0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/kg) on intraspecies aggression and freezing reaction (catalepsy) in male mice of catalepsy-resistant AKR/J and two catalepsy-prone strains CBA/Lac and congenic AKR.CBA-D13Mit76. The latter strain differs from AKR strain only by terminal chromosome 13 fragment transferred from CBA strain and containing a locus determining predisposition to catalepsy and a gene encoding 5-HT1A receptor. 8-OH-DPAT in a low dose (0.1 mg/kg) affecting primarily presynaptic receptors suppressed aggressive behavior in CBA mice, but had no effect on the time of cataleptic freezing. At the same time, this dose of the drug produced no significant effect on aggression in AKR and AKR.CBA-D13Mit76 mice, but significantly attenuated freezing in AKR.CBA-D13Mit76 mice. High doses of 8-OH-DPAT (0.5 and 1 mg/kg) which affected mainly postsynaptic receptors inhibited catalepsy in CBA and AKR.CBA-D13Mit76 mice and in a dose of 1 mg/kg it suppressed aggression in all tested mouse strains. We concluded that the genome of the recipient strain (AKR) modulated the involvement of 5-HT(1A) receptors into the regulation of aggression and catalepsy in mice.

[A new yeast species Candida anutae sp.nov. from the fruiting bodies of agaricus]. / Novyi vid drozhzhei Candida anutae sp.nov. iz plodovykh tel agarikovykh gribov.

Among the yeasts isolated from the fruiting bodies of different species of agarics picked in forests near Moscow and Turku (Finland) in 1995-1998, populations of an earlier unknown species, morphologically similar to Metschnikowia lunata but differing from it by physiological characteristics and the absence of asci with spores, were constantly found. Description of the new species is given within the genus Candida Berkhout.