After a gene editing experiment to’reduce aggression’ went wrong, scientists inadvertently generated a colony of abnormally violent hamsters.
Researchers at Georgia State University created new mice devoid of the hormone vasopressin in order to improve the rodents”social communication.’
However, the Syrian hamsters were enraged as a result of the chemical alteration, resulting in cage fights.
The hyper-aggressive hamsters were seen pinning, biting, and chasing each other.
‘We expected […] to diminish both violence and social communication,’ said lead researcher Professor Elliott Albers, ‘yet the opposite happened.’
The main hormone Avpr1a was assumed to govern friendship and bonding, and its elimination was thought to improve animal harmony.
Instead, ‘significant levels of aggressiveness towards other same-sex persons’ were recorded in the experimental trial.
‘We were genuinely astonished by the results,’ Professor Albers added.
Vasopressin is hypothesized to impact hamsters’ social behaviors, including as aggression and communication.
To learn more, scientists turned off Avpr1a, a receptor in the brain that interacts with vasopressin.
The rats were supposed to grow friendlier now that they were immune to the hormone.
The consequences were anything but, with the hamsters in their cages engaging in more fighting, biting, chasing, and pinning down.
The study’s startling findings cast doubt on scientists’ understanding of the biology-behavior relationship.
We don’t understand this system as well as we thought we did, said the professor.
‘These surprising findings suggest that we should consider the functions of these receptors across entire brain circuits rather than simply in specific brain areas.’
‘Gene-edited hamsters were not straightforward to create. However, it is critical to recognize that the neurocircuitry involved in human social behavior, as well as our model, has […] implications for human health.’
The gene editing experiments, according to Professor Albers, are designed to aid in the discovery of treatments for neuropsychiatric illnesses such as autism and depression.