Startle is a fast response to sudden, intense stimuli and probably protects the organism from
injury by a predator or by a blow. The acoustic startle response (ASR) of mammals is …

Rationale: Patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in an operational measure of
sensorimotor gating: prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle. Similar deficits in PPI are produced …

Dr. Jacqueline N. Crawley, author of the First and Second Editions of What's Wrong with My
Mouse? Behavioral Phenoty** of Transgenic and Knockout Mice, continues to field calls …

Choosing the best genetic strains of mice for develo** a new knockout or transgenic
mouse requires extensive knowledge of the endogenous traits of inbred strains. Background …

The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction hypothesis has been proposed to
help understand the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. This hypothesis was …

Rationale: Sensorimotor gating of the startle reflex can be assessed across species, using
similar stimuli to elicit similar responses. Prepulse inhibition (PPI), a measure of …

Although the Skinnerian 'Empirical Law of Effect'does not directly consider the fundamental
properties of stimuli that enable them to act as reinforcers, such considerations are critical for …

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the major mammalian enzymes involved in
the metabolic degradation of catecholamines and is considered a candidate for several …

Abnormalities of information processing have played a central role in understanding
schizophrenia since the time of Kraepelin and Bleuler. Clearly, schizophrenia spectrum …

Introduction Under specific conditions, a weak lead stimulus, or “prepulse”, can inhibit the
startling effects of a subsequent intense abrupt stimulus. This startle-inhibiting effect of the …