Neuropeptide S receptor deficiency modulates spontaneous locomotor activity and the acoustic startle response

Modification of caffeine effects on the affect-modulated startle by neuropeptide S receptor gene variation

“…After presentation of unpleasant emotional stimuli, however, NPSR TT genotype carriers showed a blunted startle magnitude in response to caffeine. The fact that in the placebo condition of the present study no overall effect of NPSR A/T genotype on startle response was detected in a way is in line with the inconsistent murine literature with a report of intra-amygdalar injection of NPS to be associated with a decreased acoustic startle response (Fendt et al 2010), a report of NPSR deficiency to lead to decreased startle magnitudes (Fendt et al 2011;Zhu et al 2010) and reports of no influence at all of the neuropeptide S system on startle magnitudes or startle habituation (Duangdao et al 2009) or prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex (Duangdao et al 2009;Fendt et al 2011).…”

“…The acoustic startle reflex has been proposed to constitute a neurobiologically founded defensive response potentially intermediately related to anxiety-related states (Grillon 2008;Lang et al 1990). In mice, the acoustic startle reflex has been shown to be influenced by the neuropeptide S system, with, however, contradictory results: both intra-amygdalar injection of NPS (Fendt et al 2010) as well as genetic NPSR deficiency (Fendt et al 2011;Zhu et al 2010) were found to be associated with a decreased acoustic startle response, while another study did not detect any influence of NPSR on the acoustic startle response (Duangdao et al 2009). Prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex is apparently not affected by the neuropeptide S system (Duangdao et al 2009;Fendt et al 2011).…”

“…In mice, the acoustic startle reflex has been shown to be influenced by the neuropeptide S system, with, however, contradictory results: both intra-amygdalar injection of NPS (Fendt et al 2010) as well as genetic NPSR deficiency (Fendt et al 2011;Zhu et al 2010) were found to be associated with a decreased acoustic startle response, while another study did not detect any influence of NPSR on the acoustic startle response (Duangdao et al 2009). Prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex is apparently not affected by the neuropeptide S system (Duangdao et al 2009;Fendt et al 2011). In addition to the basic startle reflex, the startle reflex modulated by emotionally salient stimuli ("affectmodulated startle reflex") has been suggested as a valuable tool to study emotional and motivational processes in emotion/motivation-related psychopathological states such as anxiety disorders (cf.…”

Persistent nociception induces anxiety-like behavior in rodents: Role of endogenous neuropeptide S

“…NPS, an endogenous anxiolytic neuropeptide, has been shown to play a unique role in regulating anxiety disorders [16; 24; 25; 37; 42; 60], although its tonic effect on anxiety-like behavior in rodents remains unclear [15; 18; 50]. We also found that NPS expression in the locus coeruleus and its release in the amygdala were reduced in rats with co-existing nociceptive and anxiety-like behaviors.…”

Neuropeptide S Increases locomotion activity through corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 in substantia nigra of mice

“…The tissue with the abundance of NPSR mRNA are cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus and amygdala [2]. NPS has been shown to be involved in a variety of physiological and pathological functions, including regulation of wakefulness [5], anxiolytic-like effect [6][7][8][9], locomotion activity [10][11][12][13][14], fear expression and extinction [7], drug addiction [15,16] and food intake [11,17].…”