Ontongeny of aggression:A neuroendocrinological study in aggresive and non-aggressive mice (<i>Mus musculus domesticus</i>)

The studies described in the present thesis were performed to investigate the interaction between genetic and developmental neuroendocrine factors underlying the individual variation in adult aggressive behavior. In all experimentss election lines of wild house mice were used. These lines were genetically selected for aggressive behavior based upon attack latenry in a standard resident-intruder paradigm [van Oortmerssen &amp; Bakker, 1981]. The short (SAL) and long (LAL) attack latency mice represent the extremes of the natural occurring bimodal distribution of aggression within a house mouse population [van Oortmerssen et al., 1985]. In nature both mouse types, and thus the variation in aggressiona, re functional for a population to survive [van Oortmerssen &amp; Busser, 1988]. Hence, SAL and LAL mice are a proper animal model to study the ontogeny of functional differences in aggressive behavior. ... Zie: Summary and concluding remark