Ontogeny of phencyclidine and apomorphine-induced startle gating deficits in rats.
Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior March 1, 2000 Z A Martinez, N D Halim, J L Oostwegel et al.
NMDA antagonists and dopamine agonists produce behavioral and neuropathological changes in rats that may model schizophrenia symptoms. In adult rats, both drug types disrupt sensorimotor gating measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI), mirroring PPI deficits seen in schizophrenia patients. High doses of NMDA antagonists also cause limbic system pathology similar to schizophrenia neuropathology. In 16-day-old rat pups, both the NMDA antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) and the dopamine agonist apomorphine disrupted PPI, showing early developmental functionality of the underlying substrates. However, PCP-induced neurotoxicity was only observed in adult rats, indicating that brain mechanisms responsible for PPI disruption and neurotoxicity are dissociable across development.