Preclinical investigations into the relationship between adolescent SSRI exposure and aggressive behavior: response to commentary by Rubin and Walkup (2012)

A Commentary published in the October 2012 issue of Behavioral Neuroscience entitled "SSRIs, Adolescents, and Aggression: Tempering Human Implications Regarding SSRI-Induced Aggression in Hamsters: Comment on Ricci and Melloni (2012)", presents an interpretation of findings from our report published in the same issue of Behavioral Neuroscience entitled "Repeated Fluoxetine Administration During Adolescence Stimulates Aggressive Behavior and Alters Serotonin and Vasopressin Neural Development in Hamsters". The commentary was informative, especially in its review of the prescribing demographics for SSRIs in youth and its review of human and animal aggression subtypes, and in several instances offered alternative explanations and interpretations of evidence cited in our report, particularly regarding putative relationships between human and animal models of aggression. In our response, we reply to comments made by the authors regarding the animal model of choice for our studies, the methodologies employed and the greater implication(s) of our published study as well as offer a disparate view of the evidence cited by the authors in their commentary as they pertain to the relevance of the models of aggression used in our study.