Aggressive behavior of Male Rats following Hippocampal Ablation

뇌 해마를 떼어버린 흰쥐의 공격적 행동

An experiment was designed to see if the hippocampus exerts any influence upon the aggressive behavior of male rats. Fighting between rats was observed for the estimation of aggressiveness. Seventeen rats in which the hippocampus was almost totally removed through a small hole with a diameter around 3 mm made in the neocortex at the boundary between the parietal and occipital lobes (hippocampal group), 8 rats with similar neocortical damage alone (operated control group), and 17 normal control rats (normal group) were prepared and subjected to the experiment 3 months after the operation. Applying electric shock of short duration to the feet in a box with grid floor, a fight was provoked between an animal belonging to the hippocampal group and one belonging to the nor-mal group, between a rat of the hippocampal group and one of the operated control group, and also between a rat of the operated control group and one of the normal group. Three observers judged the performance of each animal independently and described it as winning, defeated, tied, or non-fighting. Fifteen shocked trials were administered to each pair of animals with around 2 minutes' interval between each trial. An animal received a 'judging score' of 3 when it won more frequently than was defeated, a judging score of 2 when it won as frequently as was defeated, when all fights were tied, or when no fighting occurred, while it received a judging score of 1 when it won less frequently than was defeated. Group differences in performances were analyzed in terms of judging score using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for one sample. The results obtained were as follows: 1. In the fights between the hippocampal and the normal groups, the hippocampal animals made significantly better judging scores than the normal animals did (Table 1). 2. There was no significant difference between the hippocampal and the operated control group as to the judging scores they made in the course of fights between the two groups. However, the hippocampal animals tended to dominate over the operated control group as judged by comparing the total 'winning' of the former (30) to that of the latter (14) (Table 2). 3. The total judging score made by the operated control group in the course of the fights against the normal group was not significantly superior to that made by the normal group (Table 3). It was inferred from the above results that, though inconspicuous, the hippocampus tended to exert an inhibitory influence upon the aggressive behavior of male rats.

해마가 공격정 행동에 미치는 영향을 알기 위하여 두정-측두 경계 부위 신피질을 양측성으로 둥글게(지름 3 mm 정도) 떼고 이를 거쳐 해마를 거의 완전히 떼어 버린 흰쥐 17마리(해마군)와 신피질에만 지름 3 mm 정도의 손상을 준 흰쥐 8마리(수술대조군) 및 정산 흰쥐 17 마리(정상군)를 마련하여 다음과 같은 실험을 실시하였다. 발에 가해진 전기 충격을 계기로 하여 해마군에 속하는 개체와 정상군에 속하는 개체사이, 해마군에 속하는 개체와 수술대조군에 속하는 개체 및 수술대조군에 속하는 개체와 정산군에 속하는 개체 사이에 싸움을 일으키고 일정한 판단기준에 따라 승리, 패배 및 무승부를 가렸다. 약 2분의 시간 간격을 두고 15회에 걸쳐 반복한 전기 충격에 의하여 얻은 성적을 총괄하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 1. 해마군과 정상군 사이의 싸움에서 해마군이 승리를 거둔 수는 정상군의 그것 보다 유의하게 많다. 2. 해마군과 수술대조군 사이의 싸움에 있어서는 두 무리의 성적이 서로 유의하게 다르지 않으나 해마군이 우위를 차지하는 경향만은 뚜렷하다. 3. 수술대조군과 정상군 사이의 싸움에서 수술대조군이 얻은 성적은 정상군의 그것과 비교하여 유의하게 다르지 않다. 위의 실험결과로 미루어 해마는 정상기 공격적 행동을 다소나마 억압하는 경향이 있는 것으로 보인다.