title: Genetic influences on prepulse inhibition of startle reflex in humans.
abstract: Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a suppression of the startle reflex that occurs when an intense startling stimulus is preceded by a weaker 'prepulse' stimulus. PPI deficits have been implicated in the biological bases of schizophrenia and some other neuropsychiatric disorders and proposed as a possible biological marker (endophenotype) for genetic studies. However, little is known about the genetic determination of PPI in humans. We examined acoustic eye-blink startle reflex and PPI in 142 young female twins (40 monozygotic and 31 dizygotic pairs) and conducted a biometrical genetic analysis using structural equation modeling. PPI showed significant heritability suggesting that over 50% of PPI variance in this sample can be attributed to genetic factors. Baseline startle magnitude showed higher heritability (about 70%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA. andrey@matlock.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Andrey P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Anokhin
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Heath
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ralano
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001767:Blinking / Q000235:genetics*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000235:genetics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic; D014427:Twins; D015053:Zygote / Q000502:physiology