title: PREPULSE INHIBITION DEFICITS ONLY IN FEMALES WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Deficits in sensorimotor gating have been hypothesized to underlie the inability to inhibit repetitive thoughts and behaviors. To test this hypothesis, this study assessed prepulse inhibition (PPI), a measure of sensorimotor gating, across three psychiatric disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD], social anxiety disorder [SAD], and anorexia nervosa [AN]) whose clinical presentations include repetitive thoughts and behaviors
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested acoustic PPI in unmedicated individuals with OCD (n = 45), SAD (n = 37), and AN (n = 26), and compared their results to matched healthy volunteers (n = 62). All participants completed a structured clinical interview and a clinical assessment of psychiatric symptom severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Percent PPI was significantly diminished in females with OCD compared to healthy female volunteers (P = .039). No other differences between healthy volunteers and participants with disorders (male or female) were observed. Percent PPI was not correlated with severity of obsessions and compulsions, as measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to assess PPI in participants with SAD or AN, and the largest study to assess PPI in participants with OCD. We found PPI deficits only in females with OCD, which suggests that the cortico-striato-pallido-thalamic and pontine circuitry (believed to underlie PPI) differs between males and females with OCD. Given that PPI deficits were only present in females with OCD and not related to repetitive thoughts and behaviors, our results do not support the hypothesis that sensorimotor gating deficits, as measured by PPI, underlie the inability to inhibit repetitive thoughts and behaviors in individuals with OCD, SAD, and AN.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Shari A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Steinman
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Susanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ahmari
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Tse
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Choo
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Marcia B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kimeldorf
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feit
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Health Care System, San Diego, California.|Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Risbrough
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Health Care System, San Diego, California.|Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Joanna E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Steinglass
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Franklin R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Schneier
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Abby J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fyer
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Therapeutics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: H Blair
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000503:physiopathology*; D065808:Prepulse Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anxiety; biological markers; eating disorders; obsessive-compulsive disorder; social anxiety disorder