title: Prestimulation-induced startle modulation in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and nocturnal enuresis.
abstract: Startle modulation was induced by prestimulation in 43, 6-11 year old boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 13 of whom were or had been enuretic, 17 age-matched enuretic boys, and 42 age-matched normal boys, using 60-ms and 120-ms prestimulation intervals and a 4000-ms continuous tone. There was a significant multivariate effect of enuresis on startle amplitude modulation. This effect was attributed primarily to the reduction of amplitude inhibition following the 120-ms prestimulation interval regardless of whether or not enuresis was associated with ADHD. There was no effect of ADHD on startle modulation by prestimulation. The inhibition following the 120-ms prestimulation interval in the enuretic boys was reduced to the level of 5-year-old normal children, suggesting a maturational component of the deficient startle inhibition. The neurophysiologic dysfunction underlying the deficient startle inhibition in enuresis, but not ADHD, is discussed in terms of a possible dysfunction of mesopontine reticular mechanisms mediating preattentive processing of signals associated with spinal reflexes involved in urinary bladder control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Ornitz
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Hanna
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Traversay
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D004576:Electromyography; D004775:Enuresis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*