A probabilistic model of startle response reveals opposite effects of acute versus chronic Methylphenidate treatment

Salman Zubedat, Evgeny Havkin, Inon Maoz, Shlomit Aga-Mizrachi, Avi Avital

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: The startle response is considered as the major physio-behavioral indication of anxiety in health and disease conditions. However, due to different protocols of stimulation and measurement, the magnitude as well as the appearance of the startle response is inconsistent. New method: We postulate that the startle probability and not merely the amplitude may bare information that will form a consistent physiological measure of anxiety. Results: To examine the proof-of-concept of our suggested probability model, we evaluated the effects of acute (single) versus chronic (14 days) MPH administration on both startle amplitude and probability. We found that both acute and chronic MPH administration has yielded similar effects on startle amplitude. However, acute MPH increased the startle's probability while chronic MPH decreased it. Next, we evaluated the effects of acute versus chronic stress on the startle's parameters and found a complementary effect. Explicitly, acute stress increased the startle's probability while chronic stress increased the startle amplitude. In contrast, enriched environment had no significant effects. Finally, to further validate the probability measure, we show that Midazolam had significant anxiolytic effects. In the second part, we investigated the acoustic startle response parameters (e.g. background noise and pulse duration), to better understand the interplay between these parameters and the startle amplitude versus probability. Conclusions: We show that the probabilistic element of the startle response does not only point to deeper physiologic relationships but may also serve as “hidden variables” congruent but not entirely identical to the commonly researched amplitude of the startle response.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108389
JournalJournal of Neuroscience Methods
Volume327
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • Amplitude
  • Methylphenidate
  • Midazolam
  • Probability
  • Startle response
  • Stress

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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