Prepulse inhibition of the startle response with chronic schizophrenia: a replication study.
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficit, the acoustic startle reflex (ASR) and habituation (HAB) impairment are considered to be endophenotypes for schizophrenia. The recent two studies have reported that a PPI deficit was detected in Japanese schizophrenic patients. We replicated that study using larger samples (115 schizophrenic patients and 111 normal controls) than the original study and a method same as original study. A startle response monitoring system was used to deliver acoustic startle stimuli, and to record and score the electromyographic activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle. We evaluated the startle measures of mean magnitude of ASR, HAB, and PPI at prepulse sound pressure intensities of 82dB (PPI82), 86dB (PPI86), and 90dB (PPI90). ASR was significantly different between schizophrenic patients and controls. HAB and all PPI session data from schizophrenic patients were significantly lower than in controls. In addition, we detected significant differences for ASR, HAB and each PPI (82, 86 and 90dB) between schizophrenic patients and controls with the use of multiple regression analysis. The gender and smoking state were not correlated with ASR, HAB or any PPI in multiple regression analysis. In conclusion, we were able to replicate the finding of HAB impairment and PPI deficit in chronic Japanese schizophrenic patients.
Moriwaki
Masatsugu
M
Department of Psychiatry, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan.
Kishi
Taro
T
Takahashi
Hidetoshi
H
Hashimoto
Ryota
R
Kawashima
Kunihiro
K
Okochi
Tomo
T
Kitajima
Tsuyoshi
T
Furukawa
Osamu
O
Fujita
Kiyoshi
K
Takeda
Masatoshi
M
Iwata
Nakao
N
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004576:Electromyography; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012021:Reflex, Abnormal / Q000502:physiology*; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055139:Sensory Gating / Q000502:physiology*; D017678:Sex Distribution