The neurobiological basis of human aggression: A review on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms

作者：Regina Waltes, Andreas G. Chiocchetti, Christine Margarete Freitag · 发表于：American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics · 年份：2015 · DOI：10.1002/ajmg.b.32388 · 被引用次数：183 · 研究领域：Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior、Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development、Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Aggression is an evolutionary conserved behavior present in most species including humans. Inadequate aggression can lead to long-term detrimental personal and societal effects. Here, we differentiate between proactive and reactive forms of aggression and review the genetic determinants of it. Heritability estimates of aggression in general vary between studies due to differing assessment instruments for aggressive behavior (AB) as well as age and gender of study participants. In addition, especially non-shared environmental factors shape AB. Current hypotheses suggest that environmental effects such as early life stress or chronic psychosocial risk factors (e.g., maltreatment) and variation in genes related to neuroendocrine, dopaminergic as well as serotonergic systems increase the risk to develop AB. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the genetics of human aggression based on twin studies, genetic association studies, animal models, and epigenetic analyses with the aim to differentiate between mechanisms associated with proactive or reactive aggression. We hypothesize that from a genetic perspective, the aminergic systems are likely to regulate both reactive and proactive aggression, whereas the endocrine pathways seem to be more involved in regulation of reactive aggression through modulation of impulsivity. Epigenetic studies on aggression have associated non-genetic risk factors with modifications of the stress response and the immune system. Finally,...