Prepulse inhibition predicts working memory performance whilst startle habituation predicts spatial reference memory retention in C57BL/6 mice

Individual difference in prepulse inhibition does not predict spatial learning and memory performance in C57BL/6 mice

“…In addition, spontaneous motor activity in the open field and anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze were measured to control for confounding non-cognitive effects. The present segregation approach complements our previous study that solely relied on correlative analysis of individual differences to identify potential links between PPI expression and hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and memory function (Singer et al, 2013).…”

“…The lack of clear startle habituation here was expected as we have repeatedly shown that C57BL/6 mice did not show reliable stable habituation (e.g., Pietropaolo, Singer, Feldon, & Yee, 2008;Singer, Feldon, & Yee, 2009b;Singer & Yee, 2012;Yee et al, 2004aYee et al, , 2005 in our laboratory. Singer et al (2013) reported that while some subjects (C57BL/6 mice) showed habituation, a similar number showed sensitization. However, it should be noted that habituation is typically observed in other mouse strains and rodent species as well as humans.…”

“…Our decision to adopt the current approach is to overcome an inherent limitation of the correlative approach in the study by Singer et al (2013) and an earlier one by Bitanihirwe, Dubroqua, Singer, Feldon, & Yee (2011). Namely, the limited sample size in each case arguably may limit the statistical power to detect correlative links especially when statistical corrections (for Type-I errors) may be deemed necessary to correct the family-wise Type-I error rate with the inclusions of multiple variables.…”

“…However, only a few studies have investigated the relationship between PPI expression and cognitive performance in normal animals. In our first attempt, we have recently examined in a homogeneous cohort of adult wild-type C57BL/6 mice the presence of a potential link between PPI magnitude and performance in standard tests of learning and memory including spatial reference memory, spatial working memory, and contextual fear conditioning (Singer et al, 2013). Apart from a highly specific positive correlation linking working memory performance with PPI induced by weak (but not strong) prepulse stimuli, no significant association between PPI and cognitive performance was discovered.…”

Loss-of-function mutation in Mirta22/Emc10 rescues specific schizophrenia-related phenotypes in a mouse model of the 22q11.2 deletion

“…PPI expression is regulated by a wide corticolimbic and brainstem network, upon which prefrontal cortex (PFC) exerts an important neuromodulatory role (17)(18)(19)(20)(21). Although sensorimotor gating is not a cognitive process per se, it correlates well with several cognitive domains, such as executive function (22), WM (23)(24)(25), and social cognition (26) and likely shares neural substrates with these domains. We have previously shown that Df(16)A +/− mice exhibit a robust PPI deficit (12).…”