英国最新一期Nature杂志的一份报告指出，人脑中控制性活动的神经与控制暴力的神经很有可能是连结在一起的。
美国纽约大学的神经系统专家在小白鼠 身上进行了相关试验，他们改变了老鼠脑中控制暴力的神经元基因，让这组神经在受到刺激之后亮起蓝光。
随后，专家们对转基因小白鼠进行长期观测，看看在打架和交配时，究竟是哪些神经元在支配它们的大脑。
许多神经元都在小白鼠交配或战斗时分别被“点亮”，但还存在相当数量的神经元，在这两种状态下都会亮起来———尽管性和暴力一般都站在爱与恨的天平两端。
纽约大学的专家解释说，小白鼠之所以有同时控制性和暴力的神经元，是为了对异性的侵入者做出适当反应，即在性兴奋 的情况下也能采用暴力手段御敌，不被“糖衣炮弹”击倒。专家同时认为，人类脑部也拥有与之类似的神经结构。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09736
Functional identification of an aggression locus in the mouse hypothalamus
Dayu Lin1, 2 Maureen P. Boyle3 Piotr Dollar4 Hyosang Lee1 E. S. Lein3 Pietro Perona4 David J. Anderson1, 2
Electrical stimulation of certain hypothalamic regions in cats and rodents can elicit attack behaviour, but the exact location of relevant cells within these regions, their requirement for naturally occurring aggression and their relationship to mating circuits have not been clear. Genetic methods for neural circuit manipulation in mice provide a potentially powerful approach to this problem, but brain-stimulation-evoked aggression has never been demonstrated in this species. Here we show that optogenetic, but not electrical, stimulation of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus, ventrolateral subdivision (VMHvl) causes male mice to attack both females and inanimate objects, as well as males. Pharmacogenetic silencing of VMHvl reversibly inhibits inter-male aggression. Immediate early gene analysis and single unit recordings from VMHvl during social interactions reveal overlapping but distinct neuronal subpopulations involved in fighting and mating. Neurons activated during attack are inhibited during mating, suggesting a potential neural substrate for competition between these opponent social behaviours.
