Sensorimotor gating deficits in psychiatric disorders

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response has been firmly established as an operational measure of sensorimotor gating. PPI is regulated by a cortico-striato-pallido-pontine (CSPP) circuitry including frontal and mediotemporal brain regions the ventral striatum, the ventral pallidum and pontine regions of the brainstem. Several psychiatric and neurological disorders present sensorimotor gating deficits, Especially the consistent findings of PPI deficits in schizophrenia patients have contributed to the view that schizophrenia is an attentional gating disorder. Consequently, the PPI paradigm is used as a translational model of impaired (early information processes in schizophrenia because it is applicable in several laboratory animals and can be manipulated pharmacologically. Moreover, PPI has been proposed its a promising candidate endophenotype, i.e. as a biological marker that is closely related to a genetic basis. The identification of endophenotypes may have advantages for the elucidation of genetics of complex psychiatric phenotypes compared to the common genetic association studies. Finally, the amelioration of drug-induced PPI deficits in rodents has been established its an animal model for detecting antipsychotic activity. The present article reviews the applications and limitations of the PPI-paradigm in clinical neuroscience.