BACKGROUND The complex trait of prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a sensory gating measure related to schizophrenia and can be measured in mice. Large-scale public repositories of inbred mouse strain genotypes and phenotypes such as PPI can be used to detect Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) in silico. However, the method has been criticized for issues including insufficient number of strains, not cont...

Schizophrenia affects about 0.5-1.0% of people worldwide, occurring roughly equally in both men and women. The exact causes of schizophrenia are not fully understood, although the consensus of current research is that schizophrenia is a developmental disorder, caused by a genetic liability interacting with environmental and psychosocial stress. However, the possible neurobiological mechanisms u...

This investigation examined whether gating related deficits among individuals with high trait anxiety could be moderated by an acute bout of exercise. Low (LA) and high (HA) trait anxious participants engaged in either a quiet rest or an exercise session on separate occasions. Replicating previous findings, HA participants exhibited significantly reduced PPI at lead intervals of 30 and 60 ms re...

Animal models have been useful in elucidating the genetic basis of the cognitive and behavioural phenotypes associated with the 22q11.2 microdeletions. Loss-of-function models have implicated a number of genes as playing a role in prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response. Here, we report the generation and initial analysis of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenic (Tg) mice, ...