BACKGROUND The authors studied whether neonatal propofol anesthesia affects development of the endocrine and neural systems. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized using intraperitoneal propofol for 5 h on postnatal days (P) 4, 5, or 6. Pups that received either saline or intralipid, but not those in the negative control groups, were also maternally separated for 5 h. Serum levels of c...

Increasing evidence suggests an important effects of fenfluramine could be dissociated. MDL role for serotonin (5-HT) neurons in the etiology and 28,618A alone did not affect prepuise inhibition or basal treatment of schizophrenia. The prepulse inhibition parastartle levels, demonstrating an important functional difdigm is used as a model for sensorimotor gating processference between pharmacol...

The acoustic startle response is a protective response, elicited by a sudden and intense acoustic stimulus. Facial and skeletal muscles are activated within a few milliseconds, leading to a whole body flinch in rodents(1). Although startle responses are reflexive responses that can be reliably elicited, they are not stereotypic. They can be modulated by emotions such as fear (fear potentiated s...

BACKGROUND Sensorimotor gating abnormalities have been previously correlated with thought disturbance in schizophrenic patients. These correlative studies have led to the hypothesis that sensorimotor gating abnormalities may underlie thought disturbance. Several authors have cautioned, however, that this and similar hypotheses are supported by data recorded at different times or during resting ...

In prepulse inhibition (PPI), startle responses to sudden, unexpected stimuli are markedly attenuated if immediately preceded by a weak stimulus of almost any modality. This experimental paradigm exposes a potent inhibitory process, present in nervous systems from invertebrates to humans, that is widely considered to play an important role in reducing distraction during the processing of sensor...

Repetitive administration of phencyclidine (PCP) in the perinatal period results in cortical apoptosis and a long-lasting deficit in sensorimotor gating. Because these changes are olanzapine-sensitive, we have suggested that the effects of perinatal PCP could be used to model certain aspects of schizophrenia. Studies of PCP and N-methyl-D-aspartate-induced cell death suggested that superoxide c...