title: Prepulse inhibition and latent inhibition deficits in Roman high-avoidance vs. Roman low-avoidance rats: Modeling schizophrenia-related features.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to obtain further evidence supporting the validity of a new genetically-based rat model for the study of schizophrenia-relevant symptoms. The Roman high- (RHA-I) and low-avoidance (RLA-I) inbred rats have been psychogenetically selected for their rapid versus extremely poor acquisition of the two-way avoidance task in the shuttle box and present two well-differentiated profiles regarding several traits related to anxiety, impulsivity and sensitivity to (dopaminergic) psychostimulants. In this study we have tested animals from both strains in two behavioral paradigms that are related to schizophrenia, i.e. prepulse inhibition (PPI) and latent inhibition (LI) of fear-potentiated startle (FPS). The results show that while RLA-I rats display good PPI and LI to the context, RHA-Is show an impairment of PPI and no sign of an LI effect, which goes in the direction of the results obtained in schizophrenic patients. Therefore, although further behavioral and psychopharmacological work needs to be done, the present findings and previous studies carried out in our laboratory and others allow us to propose the RHA-I rat strain as a putative genetic rat model of differential schizophrenia-related features.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Aitor
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esnal
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-González
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristóbal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Río-Álamos
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignasi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oliveras
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cañete
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blázquez
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Adolf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tobeña
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: albert.fernandez.teruel@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Teruel
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D065808:Prepulse Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Fear-potentiated startle; Latent inhibition to a context; Latent inhibition to a cue; Prepulse inhibition; Roman high- and low-avoidance rats; Schizophrenia-related symptoms