Latency to startle is reduced in the 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Latency to startle is reduced in the 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
Behav Brain Res. 2018 Jul 25;:
Authors: Story D, Chan E, Munro N, Rossignol J, Dunbar GL
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that results in cognitive decline and a number of other neuropsychiatric symptoms. One area that is often affected by neuropsychiatric disease is the response to sudden, loud noises, as measured by the acoustic startle response (ASR), and prepulse inhibition (PPI), which indicates sensory-gating abilities. Evidence suggests AD patients, even early in the disease, show alteration in ASR. Studies have also shown changes in this measure in transgenic mouse models of AD. To assess the homology of 5xFAD mice to AD patients, the current study analyzed several aspects of the startle response in these mice using a protocol with fewer trials than previous studies. It was found that the 5xFAD mice had a delayed startle response, similar to what has been observed in AD sufferers. These results suggest the ASR may be a useful tool in assessing the efficacy of potential therapeutics, and that a simplified protocol may be more sensitive to between-groups differences for this task.
PMID: 30055208 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Behavioural Brain Research - July 25, 2018 Category: Neurology Authors: Story D, Chan E, Munro N, Rossignol J, Dunbar GL Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research