prepulse inhibition (ppi), the objective measure of sensorimotor gating disturbance has being widely used in animal models of schizophrenia. dopaminergic direct and indirect agonists impair ppi. however, the profile of dopaminergic receptors involved in ppi impairment by dopamine agonists is not clear. by injecting shrna expressing plasmids against dopamine d2 receptor genes (drd2) in the nucle...

BACKGROUND Prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex response refers to the ability of a weak prestimulus to transiently inhibit the response to a closely following strong sensory stimulus. This effect represents an operational index of sensorimotor gating and is found to be deficient in schizophrenia. Prepulse inhibition deficits in schizophrenia seem to be partially normalized by typical anti...

Since the characteristics and symptoms of both schizophrenia schizotypy are manifested heterogeneously, it is possible that different endophenotypes neurophysiological measures (sensory gating smooth pursuit eye movement errors) represent clusters symptoms. Participants ( N = 205) underwent a standard conditioned-pairing paradigm to establish their sensory ratio, smooth-pursuit eye-movement tas...

The disordered output from the basal ganglia to the pontine tegmentum nuclei is considered responsible for a number of abnormalities in brainstem reflexes in patients with Parkinson's disease. One of the most conspicuous of these abnormalities is the reduced inhibition of the blink reflex by a prepulse stimulus. The circuit of prepulse inhibition involves structures and fibre groups that can be...

BACKGROUND The magnitude of the startle eyeblink response is reduced if the startle eliciting stimulus is shortly preceded by another stimulus. There is evidence that schizophrenia patients exhibit impairments in this so-called prepulse inhibition. Our study investigated whether prepulse inhibition is affected by neuroleptic drug treatment as is suggested by animal research. METHODS Prepulse ...

BACKGROUND Prepulse inhibition (PPI) has become a major experimental paradigm in the study of psychiatric disorders. In this study, a potential confound in measurement and interpretation of PPI, namely startle reactions to so-called "nonstartling" prepulses, was examined. METHODS Prepulses of 80, 85, and 90 dB(A) were presented on their own or followed by a pulse of 115 dB(A) (lead interval: ...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of atypical antipsychotics on prepulse inhibition, startle response and habituation in acutely psychotic patients with schizophrenia, and investigate whether prepulse inhibition deficit improvements are a result of the direct impact of atypical antipsychotics or improvements in antipsychotic-related symptoms. METHODS Prepulse inhibition, habituation and ...

We examined the effect of perinatal hypothyroidism on auditory function in rats using a prepulse inhibition paradigm. Pregnant rats were treated with the antithyroid drug methimazole (1-methyl-2-mercaptoimidazole) from gestational day 15 to postnatal day 21 via drinking water at concentrations (w/v) of 0 (control), 0.002 (low dose), or 0.02% (high dose). Rats from methimazole-treated mothers we...

Despite their indispensable roles in sensory processing, little is known about inhibitory interneurons in humans. Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials cannot be recorded non-invasively, at least in a pure form, in humans. We herein sought to clarify whether prepulse inhibition (PPI) in the auditory cortex reflected inhibition via interneurons using magnetoencephalography. An abrupt increase in so...