Search

Sensory gating can be assessed using an auditory conditioning (C)-test (T) paradigm which measures the reduction in the auditory-evoked response produced by a test stimulus following a conditioning stimulus. Schizophrenic patients demonstrate absence of gating while dysfunction in glutamatergic neurotransmission is implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. This study examined the effect of the glutamate receptor antagonist, phencyclidine (PCP) on auditory gating in the CA3 region and dentate gyrus (DG) of rat hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Local field potential (LFP) activity was recorded simultaneously from CA3, DG and mPFC in isoflurane anaesthetised Lister hooded rats using in vivo electrophysiology. Paired auditory stimuli were presented binaurally over 128 trials. The effect of PCP (1 mg/kg, i.p.) on gating of the N2 LFP wave was assessed as the test:conditioning response amplitude ratio (T/C ratio); a value of < or =50% was indicative of gating. Auditory gating of the N2 wave was observed in the CA3, DG and mPFC. PCP disrupted gating in all three areas with significant increases in test amplitudes (P<0.001). Clozapine (5 mg/kg i.p) prevented the auditory gating deficits induced by PCP in the CA3, DG and mPFC. This study shows that PCP disrupts sensory gating in the CA3, DG and mPFC in the isoflurane anaesthetised rat. Similar deficits are observed in schizophrenic patients and the current method may provide an animal model with good predictive validity, a view substantiated by the fact that clozapine prevented the sensory gating deficits induced by PCP.

Sensory gating can be assessed in rodents and humans using an auditory conditioning (C)-test (T) paradigm, with schizophrenic patients exhibiting a loss of gating. Dysregulation of the endocannabinoid system has been proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. We studied auditory gating and the effects of the cannabinoid agonist WIN55,212-22 on gating in CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in male Lister hooded rats using in vivo electrophysiology. The effects of a single dose of WIN55,212-2 on the N2 local field potential (LFP) test/conditioning amplitude ratios (T/C ratio) and response latencies were examined. In rats that demonstrated gating of N2, mPFC showed higher T/C ratios and shorter conditioning response latencies compared to DG and CA3. WIN55,212-2 disrupted auditory gating in all three areas with a significant increase in test amplitudes in the gating rats. A group of non-gating rats demonstrated higher test amplitudes and higher T/C ratios compared to gating rats. WIN55,212-2 had no effect on T/C ratios in the non-gating rats. The cannabinoid receptor (CB1) antagonist SR141716A prevented WIN55,212-2 induced disruption of gating. This study demonstrates gated auditory-evoked responses in CA3, DG and mPFC. The mPFC showed an early phase of gating which may later be modulated by CA3 and DG activity. Furthermore, cannabinoid receptor activation disrupted auditory gating in CA3, DG and mPFC, an effect which was prevented by CB1 receptor antagonism. The results further demonstrate the presence of a non-gating rat population which responded differently to cannabinoid agonists.

Gating of sensory (e.g. auditory) information has been demonstrated as a reduction in the auditory-evoked potential responses recorded in the brain of both normal animals and human subjects. Auditory gating is perturbed in schizophrenic patients and pharmacologically by drugs such as amphetamine, phencyclidine or ketamine, which precipitate schizophrenic-like symptoms in normal subjects. The neurobiological basis underlying this sensory gating can be investigated using local field potential recordings from single electrodes. In this paper we use such technology to investigate the role of cannabinoids in sensory gating. Cannabinoids represent a fundamentally new class of retrograde messengers which are released postsynaptically and bind to presynaptic receptors. In this way they allow fine-tuning of neuronal response, and in particular can lead to so-called depolarisation-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI). Our experimental results show that application of the exogenous cannabinoid WIN55, 212-2 can abolish sensory gating as measured by the amplitude of local field responses in rat hippocampal region CA3. Importantly we develop a simple firing rate population model of CA3 and show that gating is heavily dependent upon the presence of a slow inhibitory pathway. Moreover, a simple phenomenological model of cannabinoid dynamics underlying DSI is shown to abolish gating in a manner consistent with our experimental findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]