Impaired sensorimotor gating occurs in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and can be measured using the prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm of the acoustic startle response. This assay is frequently used to validate animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders and to explore the therapeutic potential of new drugs. The underlying neural network of PPI has been extensively studied wit...

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response reflects an early stage of information processing that is abnormal in schizophrenia and certain other specific neuropsychiatric disorders that are distinguished by the inability to inhibit redundant or relatively irrelevant sensory, cognitive, or motor information. The goal of the present study was to characterize the effect of normal aging on P...

The relationship between ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) waves and motor activity during waking and non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep stages was studied in cats treated with the serotonin synthesis inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA). PGO waves appeared in waking after daily treatment with PCPA. The magnitude of the acoustic startle elicited in the absence of prior PGO waves was increase...

The amplitude of the acoustic startle response (ASP) in rats is increased in the presence of a cue that has previously been paired with an aversive stimulus such as a footshock. This phenomenon is called fear-potentiated startle and is a model to study the neuronal and neurochemical mechanisms of the acquisition and expression of fear. The present study investigated the role in fear-potentiated...

Studies of the habituation and sensorimotor gating of startle responses to strong exteroceptive stimuli provide some unique opportunities for cross-species explorations into information processing and attentional deficits in schizophrenia. The behavioral plasticity of startle paradigms greatly facilitates the development of animal models of specifiable behavioral abnormalities in schizophrenic ...

Peritraumatic dissociation, a state characterized by alteration in perception and reduced awareness of surroundings, is considered to be a risk factor for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the predictive ability of peritraumatic dissociation is questioned for the inconsistent results in different time points of assessment. The startle reflex is an objective beha...

Prepulse inhibition (PPI), whereby the startle eyeblink response is inhibited by a relatively weak non-startling stimulus preceding the powerful startle eliciting stimulus, is a measure of sensorimotor gating and has been shown to be deficient in schizophrenia patients. There is considerable interest in whether conventional and/or atypical antipsychotic medications can "normalize" PPI deficits ...

Background Abnormal protein expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors essential subunits (NR1, NR2) and of associated post-synaptic density proteins (PSD-95, PSD-93) were observed in schizophrenic patients (postmortem studies) [1,2]. NMDA receptors containing NNR2A/B subunit associate in vivo at synapses with PSD-93 and PSD-95 [3]. In the present study, we have silenced the expression...

BACKGROUND Laboratory rats exhibit behavioral changes that reflect a continuum of early life experience, from isolation-reared to socially reared to enrichment-reared conditions. In this study, we further characterize the behavioral effects of isolation, social, and enriched rearing on locomotor activity, patterns of movement and exploration, startle reactivity, prepulse inhibition (PPI), and h...

Low threshold Ca2+ currents mediated by T-type channels underlie burst spike activities of relay neurons in the thalamus. We have previously reported that knock-out mice for T-type channels show an enhanced nociceptive response to visceral pain, accompanied by an increase in tonic spikes in the absence of burst spikes in thalamic relay neurons. These results raised a possibility that T-type cha...