Harty T P, Davis M
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1985;87(4):396-9. doi: 10.1007/BF00432501.
Startle-like responses can be elicited by single pulse electrical stimulation of nuclei within the acoustic startle pathway. Compared with acoustically-elicited startle, this technique provides a method for localizing the ultimate sites of action of a drug that affects the acoustic startle response. Strychnine (1 mg/kg) increased both acoustically-elicited startle and startle elicited from the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN), the first central nucleus in the acoustic startle pathway. In contrast, cocaine (10 mg/kg) increased acoustically-elicited startle but depressed VCN-elicited startle. These results suggest that cocaine increases startle by acting on sensory rather than final motor systems and are discussed in relation to the putative effect of cocaine on dopamine neurotransmission and the involvement of dopamine in sensorimotor reactivity.
通过对听惊吓通路内的核团进行单脉冲电刺激，可以引发类似惊吓的反应。与声音引发的惊吓相比，该技术提供了一种定位影响听惊吓反应药物最终作用位点的方法。士的宁（1毫克/千克）增加了声音引发的惊吓以及从腹侧耳蜗核（VCN，听惊吓通路中的第一个中枢核团）引发的惊吓。相比之下，可卡因（10毫克/千克）增加了声音引发的惊吓，但抑制了VCN引发的惊吓。这些结果表明，可卡因通过作用于感觉系统而非最终运动系统来增加惊吓反应，并结合可卡因对多巴胺神经传递的假定作用以及多巴胺在感觉运动反应性中的作用进行了讨论。
