Authors: O A H Reneerkens A Sambeth M A Van Duinen A Blokland H W M Steinbusch J Prickaerts
Publish Date: 2012/08/02
Volume: 225, Issue: 2, Pages: 303-312
Abstract
Sensory gating is an adaptive mechanism of the brain to prevent overstimulation Patients suffering from clinical disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease or schizophrenia exhibit a deficit in gating which indicates not only an impairment in basic information processing that might contribute to the cognitive problems seen in these patients Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors PDE5Is have been shown to improve cognition in rodents in various behavioural tasks and might consequently be an interesting target for cognition enhancement However the effects of PDE5Is on sensory gating are not known yetIn the rat study vehicle or 03–3 mg/kg of the PDE5I vardenafil was given orally 30 min before testing and electrode locations were the vertex hippocampus and the striatum The human subjects received placebo 10–20 mg vardenafil 85 min before testing and sensory gating was measured at the cortex Fz Fcz and Cz electrodesSignificant gating was only found for the N1 component in rats while all three peaks P1 N1 and P2 showed gating in humans ie the response to the second sound click was decreased as compared with the first for these deflections Administration of vardenafil did neither have an effect on sensory gating in rats nor in humans
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