Long-term habituation of the startle response in mice evoked by acoustic and tactile stimuli.
The present study shows that repetitive presentation of tactile and acoustic stimuli evoke long-term habituation (LTH) of the startle response in C57BL/6J mice. This was indicated by a decrease in response strength over several days. For the LTH of the acoustic startle response two controls were included: first, developing hearing loss during the time of testing did not account for the startle decrease--only 7 days of acoustic stimulation but not 7 days of adaptation led to a decrease in the startle. Second, repetitive presentation of loud acoustic startle stimuli did not raise the auditory threshold, which might otherwise have accounted for the startle decrease: prepulse inhibition (used here as a hearing test) was identical after both 7 days of acoustic startle stimulation and 7 days without stimulation. This proves that LTH to tactile and acoustic stimuli is present and fully functional in mice.
Plappert
Claudia F
CF
Tierphysiologie, Zoologisches Institut, Fakultaet fuer Biologie, Universitaet Tuebingen. claudia.plappert@uni-tuebingen.de
Pilz
Peter K D
PK
D000818:Animals; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012022:Reflex, Acoustic / Q000502:physiology*; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors