Lauer Amanda M, Behrens Derik, Klump Georg
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Center for Hearing and Balance, Johns Hopkins University, 515 Traylor Building, 720 Rutland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Animal Physiology & Behavior Group, Department for Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl Von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Carl Von Ossietzky Str. 9-11, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2017 Jun;77:194-208. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.03.009. Epub 2017 Mar 19.
Acoustic startle response (ASR) modification procedures, especially prepulse inhibition (PPI), are increasingly used as behavioral measures of auditory processing and sensorimotor gating in rodents due to their perceived ease of implementation and short testing times. In practice, ASR and PPI procedures are extremely variable across animals, experimental setups, and studies, and the interpretation of results is subject to numerous caveats and confounding influences. We review considerations for modification of the ASR using acoustic stimuli, and we compare the sensitivity of PPI procedures to more traditional operant psychoacoustic techniques. We also discuss non-auditory variables that must be considered. We conclude that ASR and PPI measures cannot substitute for traditional operant techniques due to their low sensitivity. Additionally, a substantial amount of pilot testing must be performed to properly optimize an ASR modification experiment, negating any time benefit over operant conditioning. Nevertheless, there are some circumstances where ASR measures may be the only option for assessing auditory behavior, such as when testing mouse strains with early-onset hearing loss or learning impairments.
听觉惊吓反应（ASR）修正程序，尤其是前脉冲抑制（PPI），由于其被认为易于实施且测试时间短，越来越多地被用作啮齿动物听觉处理和感觉运动门控的行为测量方法。实际上，ASR和PPI程序在不同动物、实验设置和研究中差异极大，结果的解释存在诸多注意事项和混杂影响。我们回顾了使用声学刺激修正ASR的注意事项，并比较了PPI程序与更传统的操作性心理声学技术的敏感性。我们还讨论了必须考虑的非听觉变量。我们得出结论，由于ASR和PPI测量的低敏感性，它们不能替代传统的操作性技术。此外，必须进行大量的预试验以适当优化ASR修正实验，这抵消了相对于操作性条件反射的任何时间优势。然而，在某些情况下，ASR测量可能是评估听觉行为的唯一选择，例如在测试患有早发性听力损失或学习障碍的小鼠品系时。
