title: Cysteamine impairs the development of the acoustic startle response in rats: possible role of somatostatin.
abstract: Somatostatin is transiently expressed in many regions of the developing brain, among others in auditory brainstem nuclei of neonatal rats. To explore the functional significance of somatostatin during the ontogeny of acoustically elicited behavior, the acoustic startle response (ASR) was measured in developing rats after chronic application of cysteamine, which, when applied in low doses, most selectively depletes somatostatin. Cysteamine treatment drastically reduced somatostatin immunoreactivity in the cochlear nuclear complex and the caudal pontine reticular nucleus, i.e. in structures mediating the ASR. It did not affect the ASR amplitude of postnatal day (P) 13 animals, yet it resulted in a significant reduction of the ASR amplitude at P18. Our results therefore suggest that somatostatin can influence the maturation of sensorimotor information processing.
authors.affiliation: Zentrum der Physiologie, Klinikum der Universität Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kungel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Friauf
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development*; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D003543:Cysteamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects*; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D013004:Somatostatin; D003543:Cysteamine