title: Animal Models of Maladaptive Traits: Disorders in Sensorimotor Gating and Attentional Quantifiable Responses as Possible Endophenotypes.
abstract: Traditional diagnostic scales are based on a number of symptoms to evaluate and classify mental diseases. In many cases, this process becomes subjective, since the patient must calibrate the magnitude of his/her symptoms and therefore the severity of his/her disorder. A completely different approach is based on the study of the more vulnerable traits of cognitive disorders. In this regard, animal models of mental illness could be a useful tool to characterize indicators of possible cognitive dysfunctions in humans. Specifically, several cognitive disorders such as schizophrenia involve a dysfunction in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system during development. These variations in dopamine levels or dopamine receptor sensibility correlate with many behavioral disturbances. These behaviors may be included in a specific phenotype and may be analyzed under controlled conditions in the laboratory. The present study provides an introductory overview of different quantitative traits that could be used as a possible risk indicator for different mental disorders, helping to define a specific endophenotype. Specifically, we examine different experimental procedures to measure impaired response in attention linked to sensorimotor gating as a possible personality trait involved in maladaptive behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Animal Behavior and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: Animal Behavior and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Estrella
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.affiliation: Animal Behavior and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Portavella
authors.affiliation: Animal Behavior and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: López
keywords: dopamine; endophenotype; latent inhibition; mental disorder; prepulse inhibition