Neural correlates of tactile prepulse inhibition: a functional MRI study in normal and schizophrenic subjects.

Full Abstract

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle reflex refers to the ability of a weak prestimulus, the prepulse, to inhibit the response to a closely following strong sensory stimulus, the pulse. PPI is found to be deficient in a number of psychiatric and neurological disorders associated with abnormalities at some level in the limbic and cortico-pallido-striato-thalamic circuitry. We applied whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to elucidate the neural correlates of PPI using airpuff stimuli as both the prepulse and the pulse in groups of (i) healthy subjects and (ii) schizophrenic patients. Cerebral activation during prepulse-plus-pulse stimuli with stimulus-onset asynchronies of 120 ms was contrasted with activation during pulse-alone stimuli. In healthy subjects, PPI was associated with increased activation bilaterally in the striatum extending to hippocampus and thalamus, right inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior parietal lobe/supramarginal gyrus, and with decreased activation in the right cerebellum and left medial occipital lobe. All activated regions showed significantly greater response in healthy subjects than schizophrenic patients, who also showed a trend for lower PPI. The findings demonstrate involvement of the striatum, hippocampus, thalamus, and frontal and parietal cortical regions in PPI. Dysfunctions in any of these regions may underlie observations of reduced PPI in schizophrenia.

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Author information

Author/s: Kumari, Veena (V); Gray, Jeffrey A (JA); Geyer, Mark A (MA); ffytche, Dominic (D); Soni, William (W); Mitterschiffthaler, Martina T (MT); Vythelingum, Goparlen N (GN); Simmons, Andrew (A); Williams, Steve C R (SC); Sharma, Tonmoy (T);

Affiliation: Section of Cognitive Psychopharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. v.kumari(-atsign-)iop.kcl.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Psychiatry research (Psychiatry Res), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 122 (issue 2) : pp 99-113

Dates: Created 2003/04/25; Completed 2003/07/25; Revised 2008/04/17;

PMID: 12714174, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Brain - physiopathology
Brain Mapping
Corpus Striatum - physiopathology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Female
Frontal Lobe - physiopathology
Hippocampus - physiopathology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male

Male
Nerve Net - physiopathology
Neural Inhibition - physiology
Neural Pathways - physiopathology
Parietal Lobe - physiopathology
Reference Values
Schizophrenia - diagnosis; physiopathology
Schizophrenic Psychology
Startle Reaction - physiology
Thalamus - physiopathology
Touch - physiology

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