serotonin (5-HT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) tagged posts

Serotonin and AVP structures

The brain regulates social behavior differently in males and females, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Elliott Albers, director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience and Regents’ Professor of Neuroscience at Georgia State University, and graduate student Joseph I. Terranova, has discovered that serotonin (5-HT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) act in opposite ways in males and females to influence aggression and dominance. Because dominance and aggressiveness have been linked to stress resistance, these findings may influence the development of more effective gender-specific treatment strategies for stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

“These results begin to provide a neurochemical basis f...