Markou A, Matthews K, Overstreet D H, Koob G F, Geyer M A
Department of Neuropharmacology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037.
Biol Psychiatry. 1994 Nov 15;36(10):680-8. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(94)91177-0.
Based on the hypothesis that depression involves a cholinergic-adrenergic neurotransmitter imbalance, a putative genetic animal model of depression has been developed by selectively breeding rats to exhibit hypocholinergia (Flinders Resistant Line--FRL), or hypercholinergia (Flinders Sensitive Line--FSL). The present experiments were designed to test the behavioral reactivity of these rats to external stimuli by measuring acoustic startle responses. The FRL rats exhibited lower startle thresholds compared to both FSL and control rats, while the FSL rats' startle thresholds were between those of controls and FRL rats. Despite the differences in thresholds, the three groups demonstrated similar levels of maximal startle reactivity to a high-intensity acoustic stimulus. With repeated stimulus presentations, FRL rats developed startle sensitization, a rarely observed phenomenon, while FSL and control rats exhibited habituation. There were no differences between the three groups in prepulse inhibition of startle. These results indicated that FRL rats exhibited interesting startle phenomena that are characteristic of certain psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and, potentially, depression.
基于抑郁症涉及胆碱能 - 肾上腺素能神经递质失衡的假说，通过选择性培育大鼠以表现出低胆碱能（弗林德斯抗性系——FRL）或高胆碱能（弗林德斯敏感系——FSL），开发了一种假定的抑郁症基因动物模型。本实验旨在通过测量听觉惊吓反应来测试这些大鼠对外部刺激的行为反应性。与FSL大鼠和对照大鼠相比，FRL大鼠表现出较低的惊吓阈值，而FSL大鼠的惊吓阈值介于对照大鼠和FRL大鼠之间。尽管阈值存在差异，但三组对高强度听觉刺激的最大惊吓反应水平相似。随着刺激的重复呈现，FRL大鼠出现了惊吓敏感化，这是一种很少观察到的现象，而FSL大鼠和对照大鼠表现出习惯化。三组在惊吓前脉冲抑制方面没有差异。这些结果表明，FRL大鼠表现出有趣的惊吓现象，这些现象是某些精神疾病的特征，如精神分裂症、创伤后应激障碍，以及可能的抑郁症。
