The Novartis symposium on Molecular Mechanisms Influencing Aggressive Behaviours is over. It was a very interesting meeting with extended discussions into the classification of and neural networks involved in aggressiveness and aggression. I learned about the involvement of subsystems of the serotonergic system, the NO system, the pheromone system and the hormonal system (vasopressin, testosterone) in mammalian aggression. I also learned a great deal on the evolutionary background without which the different roles of the various subsystems could not be understood. Aggression is rarely spontaneous, but reactive to secondary behavioral systems and is one channel of communication between animals. Due to this context specificity, the different subsystems have different roles in different circumstances. Such diversity leads e.g. to certain mouse gene knock-out strains to have increased agressiveness in males but decreased in females.
In about 9 months time a book will come out with all the presentations and discussions. I will post the reference to this volume here.