title: Association between prepulse inhibition of the startle response and latent inhibition of two-way avoidance acquisition: A study with heterogeneous NIH-HS rats.
abstract: This study presents the first evaluation of the associations between responses in two paradigms related to schizophrenia in the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock. NIH-HS rats are a stock of genetically heterogeneous animals that have been derived from eight different inbred strains. A rotational breeding schedule has been followed for more than eighty generations, leading to a high level of genetic recombination that makes the NIH-HS rats a unique tool for studying the genetic basis of (biological, behavioral, disease-related) complex traits. Previous work has dealt with the characterization of coping styles, cognitive and anxiety/fear-related profiles of NIH-HS rats. In the present study we have completed their characterization in two behavioral models, prepulse inhibition (PPI) and latent inhibition (LI) of the two-way active avoidance response, that appear to be related to schizophrenia or to schizophrenia-relevant symptoms. We have found that these rats display PPI for each of the four prepulse intensities tested, allowing their stratification in high, medium and low PPI subgroups. When testing these three subgroups for LI of two-way active avoidance acquisition it has been observed that the LowPPI and MediumPPI subgroups present impaired LI, which, along with the fact that the HighPPI group presents significant LI, allows us to hypothesize that responses in these two paradigms are somehow related and that selection of NIH-HS rats for Low vs HighPPI could make a promising animal model for the study of clusters of schizophrenia-relevant symptoms and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: ana_sg08@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-González
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Aitor
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esnal
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristóbal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Río-Álamos
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignasi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oliveras
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cañete
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blázquez
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Adolf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tobeña
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: albert.fernandez.teruel@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Teruel
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D065808:Prepulse Inhibition; D011581:Psychological Tests; D051381:Rats; D013216:Reflex, Startle
keywords: Genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rats; Latent inhibition; Prepulse inhibition; Schizophrenia-relevant symptoms