Brain-wide oscillatory network selectively encodes aggression

Abstract

SummarySocial aggression is an innate behavior that can aid an organism in securing access to resources. Aggression can also disrupt group function and reduce survival under conditions of behavioral pathology. Since many brain regions contribute to multiple social behaviors, expanded knowledge of how the brain encodes distinct social states would enable the development of interventions that suppress aggression, while leaving other social behaviors intact. Here we show that murine aggression is optimally encoded by a brain-wide network. This network is organized by prominent theta (4-11Hz) and beta (14-30Hz) oscillations, leading from orbital frontal cortex and medial dorsal thalamus, and converging on ventral medial hypothalamus and medial amygdala. Activity in this network is coupled to brain-wide cellular firing, and the network is conserved in new mice from multiple genetic backgrounds, and in multiple contexts. Finally, we develop a closed loop stimulation protocol based on network activity levels. This protocol suppressed aggression, but not pro-social behavior. Thus, we defined a causal brainwide network that selectively encodes aggressive behavior across mice and established a new approach for state specific control of affective behavior.