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. 2008 Oct 8;36(3):607–623. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbn131

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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

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Fig. 2. — Modulation of Prepulse Inhibition (PPI) of the Acoustic Startle Reflex by Periadolescent Antipsychotic and Antidepressant Drug Treatment in Offspring Born to PolyI:C-Treated and Control (CON) Mothers. Inhibition of the startle reflex to a 120-dB_A stimulus was achieved through prepulses of distinct intensities (71, 77, and 83 dB_A, which corresponded to 6, 12, and 18 dB_A above background, respectively). (a) The figure shows percentage PPI (%PPI) as a function of prepulse intensity for CON offspring and offspring born to PolyI:C-treated mothers; in addition, the mean %PPI is depicted for all experimental groups. Prenatal PolyI:C exposure significantly reduced %PPI in vehicle (VEH)-treated animals compared with prenatal CON treatment. The prenatal PolyI:C-induced PPI disruption was normalized by periadolescent clozapine (CLZ) or fluoxetine (FLX) treatment but not by periadolescent haloperidol (HAL) treatment. The latter drug significantly reduced %PPI in adulthood when given to periadolescent offspring born to CON mothers. *P < .05, **P < .01, and ***P < .001, based on Fisher post hoc tests. (b) The figure depicts startle reactivity to prepulse-alone trials as a function of prepulse intensity. Periadolescent CLZ treatment increased the startle reactivity to prepulse-alone trials relative to VEH treatment during periadolescence. This effect was seen in both CON offspring and offspring born to PolyI:C-challenged mothers. HAL-treated PolyI:C offspring displayed a significant reduction in the startle reactivity to prepulse-alone trials relative to periadolescent VEH treatment in PolyI:C offspring. ^#P < .05 between VEH-treated CON or PolyI:C offspring and CLZ-treated CON or PolyI:C offspring; ^§P < .05 between HAL-treated PolyI:C offspring and VEH-treated PolyI:C offspring. Significance is based on Fisher post hoc tests at each of the 3 prepulse levels. (c) The figure shows the mean startle reactivity to the pulse-alone trials. Periadolescent FLX treatment significantly reduced the startle reactivity to the pulse-alone trials regardless of the prenatal treatment histories. ⁺P < .05 between FLX- and VEH-treated animals based on subsequent Fisher post hoc tests. The number of subjects in each group is listed in table 1. All values are means ± standard error of the mean.