Sasaki H, Iso H, Coffey P, Inoue T, Fukuda Y
Department of Physiology, Osaka University Medical School, Yamadaoka, Suita, Japan.
Neurosci Lett. 1998 May 29;248(2):117-20. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3940(98)00350-4.
A visual prepulse was applied just before a burst of white noise with various lead intervals ranging from 50 to 400 ms in hamsters. After habituation each hamster received 120 trials of the auditory noise with or without the prepulse. Amplitude of startle response increased significantly at 100 ms and 200 ms (n = 10). This enhancement disappeared in blind controls (n = 6). The amplitude of startle response decreased during exploratory behavior, grooming, sniffing or other movements. However, the facilitatory effects of the visual prepulse were consistent, regardless of the animal's behavioral states, except sniffing. The authors conclude that visual prepulse task is useful for studying the ability to detect visual signals in hamsters, and that further study is necessary to elucidate the factors affecting the enhancement of startle response in hamsters.
在仓鼠中，在一阵白噪声之前施加视觉预备脉冲，预备脉冲与白噪声之间的间隔时间从50毫秒到400毫秒不等。适应后，每只仓鼠接受120次有或没有预备脉冲的听觉噪声试验。在100毫秒和200毫秒时，惊吓反应的幅度显著增加（n = 10）。这种增强在盲对照组中消失（n = 6）。在探索行为、梳理毛发、嗅探或其他运动过程中，惊吓反应的幅度会降低。然而，视觉预备脉冲的促进作用是一致的，除了嗅探外，与动物的行为状态无关。作者得出结论，视觉预备脉冲任务对于研究仓鼠检测视觉信号的能力很有用，并且有必要进一步研究以阐明影响仓鼠惊吓反应增强的因素。
