Uncontrolled rage is a public health issue. It is a feature of several psychiatric and behavioral disorders and contributes to societal challenges including community violence, incarceration, and interpersonal conflict.
But what if we had a better understanding of the neurobiological basis for aggression and how early experiences shape brain development — and could identify potential targets for therapy?
Sora Shin, a neuroscientist at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, received a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how early life trauma alters brain circuits that control aggression and attention. Her research could lead to novel treatment strategies to ease the burden of trauma-related aggression on individuals, families, and communities.
Shin’s research focuses on understanding how childhood adversity can lead to long-term changes in brain function and behavior, including increased impulsivity and aggression.
“Trauma early in life is a risk factor for cognitive decline and pathological aggression later in life,” Shin said. “If we can learn more about the neurological basis for aggression, it could help us identify therapies.”
Shin and her team will study the role of a specific brain structure known as the thalamic nucleus reuniens, a region that connects the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. The nucleus reuniens is involved in memory, emotion, and decision-making, and its dysfunction is implicated in anxiety-related behaviors and clinical disorders such as schizophrenia.
Preliminary studies in mice, including Shin’s previous research into binge-like eating habits and stress-induced social dysfunction, have shown that both early trauma and activation of a certain calcium channel in neurons in the circuit connecting the nucleus reuniens to hippocampus lead to impulsive aggression and impaired attention.
Using advanced technologies such as CRISPR gene editing, optogenetics, and real-time brain recordings in mice, Shin will examine how trauma-related changes in these circuits influence aggressive behavior.
“We want to better understand how brain circuits contribute to aggressive behavior, especially when thinking and memory start to decline after experiencing trauma,” said Shin, who also holds an appointment in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “By studying this brain pathway in detail, we hope to shift how people think about impulsive aggression — from seeing it as a problem in just one brain area to understanding it as part of a broader network of brain regions working together.”
The grant is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health.
By Leigh Anne Kelley