摘要
Establishment of animal models of schizophrenia is critical for both understanding the mechanisms underlying this severe mental disease and developing new antipsychotics. This paper starts from the theoretical root of sensory gating, the 損rotection-of-processing?theory, then thoroughly describes the representative studies over the past decade on the mechanism underlying prepulse inhibition and on those underlying modulation of prepulse inhibition, which is the normal startle suppression caused by the weak stimulus preceding the intense startling stimulus. The main methods for inducing prepulse inhibition deficits in experimental animals include: ⅰ) modulations of neuro- transmission that are closely associated with schizophrenia; ⅱ) focal lesions or pharmacological manipulations of brain structures in the cortico-striato-pallido-pontine circuit; and ⅲ) maternal deprivation or social isolation. Six essential topics for studies in modeling schizophrenia are suggested at the last part of this review.
Establishment of animal models of schizophrenia is critical for both understanding the mechanisms underlying this severe mental disease and developing new antipsychotics. This paper starts from the theoretical root of sensory gating, the 損rotection-of-processing?theory, then thoroughly describes the representative studies over the past decade on the mechanism underlying prepulse inhibition and on those underlying modulation of prepulse inhibition, which is the normal startle suppression caused by the weak stimulus preceding the intense startling stimulus. The main methods for inducing prepulse inhibition deficits in experimental animals include: ⅰ) modulations of neuro- transmission that are closely associated with schizophrenia; ⅱ) focal lesions or pharmacological manipulations of brain structures in the cortico-striato-pallido-pontine circuit; and ⅲ) maternal deprivation or social isolation. Six essential topics for studies in modeling schizophrenia are suggested at the last part of this review.
基金
This work was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(Grant No.30200080)
the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2002CCA01000)
the Ministry of Education of China(Grant No.02170).
关键词
动物模型
精神分裂症
感觉运动控制
脉冲抑制
神经传递
皮质
纹状体
腹部苍白球
脑桥
下丘
schizophrenia, animal models, sensorimotor gating, prepulse inhibition, neurotransmission, cortex, striatum, ventral pallidum, pontine, inferior colliculus, stress, social isolation.