Comparison of four components of sensory gating in schizophrenia and normal subjects: a preliminary report

Sensory Gating in the Auditory System: Classical and Novel Stimulus Paradigms

PURPOSE

Sensory gating is a phenomenon where the cortical response to the second stimulus in a pair of identical stimuli is inhibited. It is most often assessed in a conditioning-testing paradigm. Both active and passive neuronal mechanisms have been implicated in sensory gating. The present study aimed to assess if sensory gating is caused by an active neural mechanism associated with stimulus redundancy.

METHOD

The study was carried out on 20 young neurotypical adults. We assessed the gating phenomenon using identical and nonidentical stimuli pairs presented in an electrophysiological conditioning-testing paradigm. We hypothesized that the novel stimulus in the nonidentical stimulus pair would not exhibit the sensory gating effects (reduction in the amplitude of cortical potentials to the second stimuli in the pair), owing to stimulus novelty.

RESULTS

Contrary to our expectations, the response analyses of the cortical auditory evoked potentials revealed that adults gated repetitive and novel stimuli similarly.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are discussed in relation to the significance of methodological factors in evaluating sensory gating. We believe that additional research using oddball presentation of novel stimuli along with appropriate analysis methods is necessary before drawing any conclusions on the mechanisms underlying sensory gating.

Sensory Gating to Speech and Nonspeech Stimulus and Its Relationship to Speech Perception in Noise

PURPOSE

Sensory gating is the cortical phenomenon that involves selective inhibition of responses to task-irrelevant stimuli. Perceiving speech in noise, a situation commonly encountered by humans, requires the irrelevant noise to be inhibited while processing the relevant speech stimulus. We hypothesized that the two (sensory gating and speech perception in noise [SPiN]) might be related and that sensory gating may provide evidence of cortical inhibition involved in SPiN.

METHOD

An observational research following a correlational design was conducted on 10 neurotypical individuals. Auditory sensory gating was assessed using a conditioning-testing paradigm for tone and speech token pairs. The SPiN was measured using standardized sentences in the participants' native language.

RESULTS

Differences were observed in the gating index of the P2 peaks of speech and tone pairs. A significant relationship between SPiN and the auditory sensory gating of the P2 peak of the speech-evoked cortical potential was obtained.

CONCLUSION

The results of this preliminary investigation indicate an association between the sensory gating mechanism and neurotypical individuals' ability to perceive speech in noise.

Cortical and thalamic modulation of auditory gating in the posterior parietal cortex of awake mice

Auditory gating (AG) is an adaptive mechanism for filtering out redundant acoustic stimuli to protect the brain against information overload. AG deficits have been found in many mental illnesses, including schizophrenia (SZ). However, the neural correlates of AG remain poorly understood. Here, we found that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) shows an intermediate level of AG in auditory thalamocortical circuits, with a laminar profile in which the strongest AG is in the granular layer. Furthermore, AG of the PPC was decreased and increased by optogenetic inactivation of the medial dorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and auditory cortex (AC), respectively. Optogenetically activating the axons from the MD and AC drove neural activities in the PPC without an obvious AG. These results indicated that AG in the PPC is determined by the integrated signal streams from the MD and AC in a bottom-up manner. We also found that a mouse model of SZ (postnatal administration of noncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist) presented an AG deficit in the PPC, which may be inherited from the dysfunction of MD. Together, our findings reveal a neural circuit underlying the generation of AG in the PPC and its involvement in the AG deficit of SZ.

EEG reveals deficits in sensory gating and cognitive processing in asymptomatic adults with a history of concussion

OBJECTIVE

Individuals with a concussion history tend to perform worse on dual-tasks compared controls but the underlying neural mechanisms contributing to these deficits are not understood. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate sensory gating and cognitive processing in athletes with and without a history of concussion while they performed a challenging dual-task.

METHODS

We recorded sensory (P50, N100) and cognitive (P300) ERPs in 30 athletes (18 no previous concussion; 12 history of concussion) while they simultaneously performed an auditory oddball task and a working memory task that progressively increased in difficulty.

RESULTS

The concussion group had reduced auditory performance as workload increased compared to the no-concussion group. Sensory gating and cognitive processing were reduced in the concussion group indicating problems with filtering relevant from irrelevant information and appropriately allocating resources. Sensory gating (N100) was positively correlated with cognitive processing (P300) at the hardest workload in the no-concussion group but negatively correlated in the concussion group.

CONCLUSION

Concussions result in long-term problems in behavioral performance, which may be due to poorer sensory gating that impacts cognitive processing.

SIGNIFICANCE

Problems effectively gating sensory information may influence the availability or allocation of attention at the cognitive stage in those with a concussion.

Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Pre-Attentional Inhibitory Deficits

According to recent findings schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as separate disease entities manifest similarities in neuropsychological functioning. Typical disturbances in both disorders are related to sensory gating deficits characterized by decreased inhibitory functions in responses to various insignificant perceptual signals which are experimentally tested by event related potentials (ERP) and measured P50 wave. In this context, recent findings implicate that disrupted binding and disintegration of consciousness in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that are related to inhibitory deficits reflected in P50 response may explain similarities in psychotic disturbances in both disorders. With this aim, this review summarizes literature about P50 in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Auditory Sensory Gating in Children With Cochlear Implants: A P50-N100-P200 Study

Background: While a cochlear implant (CI) can restore access to audibility in deaf children, implanted children may still have difficulty in concentrating. Previous studies have revealed a close relationship between sensory gating and attention. However, whether CI children have deficient auditory sensory gating remains unclear.

Methods: To address this issue, we measured the event-related potentials (ERPs), including P50, N100, and P200, evoked by paired tone bursts (S1 and S2) in CI children and normal-hearing (NH) controls. Suppressed amplitudes for S2 compared with S1 in these three ERPs reflected sensory gating during early and later phases, respectively. A Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham IV (SNAP-IV) scale was performed to assess the attentional performance.

Results: Significant amplitude differences between S1 and S2 in N100 and P200 were observed in both NH and CI children, indicating the presence of sensory gating in the two groups. However, the P50 suppression was only found in NH children and not in CI children. Furthermore, the duration of deafness was significantly positively correlated with the score of inattention in CI children.

Conclusion: Auditory sensory gating can develop but is deficient during the early phase in CI children. Long-term auditory deprivation has a negative effect on sensory gating and attentional performance.

Neuromagnetic evidence of abnormal automatic inhibitory function in subjective memory complaint

Subjective memory complaint (SMC), a self-perceived worsening in memory capacity concurrent with normal performance on standardized cognitive assessments, is considered a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Deficient sensory gating (SG), referring to the lack of automatic inhibition of neural responses to the second identical stimulus, has been documented in prodromal and incident AD patients. However, it remains unknown whether the cognitively normal elderly with SMC demonstrate alterations of SG function compared with those without SMC. A total of 19 healthy controls (HC) and 16 SMC subjects were included in the present study. Neural responses to the auditory paired-stimulus paradigm were recorded by the magnetoencephalography and analyzed by the distributed source imaging method of minimum norm estimate. The SG of M50 and M100 components were measured using the amplitude ratio of the second response over the first response at the cortical level. Compared to HC, subjects with SMC showed significantly increased M50 SG ratios in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Furthermore, M50 SG ratios in the right IPL yielded an acceptable discriminative ability to distinguish SMC from HC. However, we did not find a significant association between SG ratios and cognitive function requiring inhibitory control either in the HC or SMC group. In conclusion, although SMC subjects have intact cognitive functioning revealed by objective neuropsychological tests, their deficits in automatic inhibitory function could be detected through neurophysiological recordings. Our results suggest that altered brain function occurs in SMC prior to the obvious decline of cognitive performance.

Gating Patterns to Proprioceptive Stimulation in Various Cortical Areas: An MEG Study in Children and Adults using Spatial ICA

Proprioceptive paired-stimulus paradigm was used for 30 children (10-17 years) and 21 adult (25-45 years) volunteers in magnetoencephalography (MEG). Their right index finger was moved twice with 500-ms interval every 4 ± 25 s (repeated 100 times) using a pneumatic-movement actuator. Spatial-independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to identify stimulus-related components from MEG cortical responses. Clustering was used to identify spatiotemporally consistent components across subjects. We found a consistent primary response in the primary somatosensory (SI) cortex with similar gating ratios of 0.72 and 0.69 for the children and adults, respectively. Secondary responses with similar transient gating behavior were centered bilaterally in proximity of the lateral sulcus. Delayed and prolonged responses with strong gating were found in the frontal and parietal cortices possibly corresponding to larger processing network of somatosensory afference. No significant correlation between age and gating ratio was found. We confirmed that cortical gating to proprioceptive stimuli is comparable to other somatosensory and auditory domains, and between children and adults. Gating occurred broadly beyond SI cortex. Spatial ICA revealed several consistent response patterns in various cortical regions which would have been challenging to detect with more commonly applied equivalent current dipole or distributed source estimates.

Neurophysiological investigation of auditory intensity dependence in patients with Parkinson's disease

There is accumulating evidence for auditory dysfunctions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Moreover, a possible relationship has been suggested between altered auditory intensity processing and the hypophonic speech characteristics in PD. Nonetheless, further insight into the neurophysiological correlates of auditory intensity processing in patients with PD is needed primarily. In the present study, high-density EEG recordings were used to investigate intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (IDAEPs) in 14 patients with PD and 14 age- and gender-matched healthy control participants (HCs). Patients with PD were evaluated in both the on- and off-medication states. HCs were also evaluated twice. Significantly increased IDAEP of the N1/P2 was demonstrated in patients with PD evaluated in the on-medication state compared to HCs. Distinctive results were found for the N1 and P2 component. Regarding the N1 component, no differences in latency or amplitude were shown between patients with PD and HCs regardless of the medication state. In contrast, increased P2 amplitude was demonstrated in patients with PD evaluated in the on-medication state compared to the off-medication state and HCs. In addition to a dopaminergic deficiency, deficits in serotonergic neurotransmission in PD were shown based on increased IDAEP. Due to specific alterations of the N1-P2 complex, the current results suggest deficiencies in early-attentive inhibitory processing of auditory input in PD. This interpretation is consistent with the involvement of the basal ganglia and the role of dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission in auditory gating.

Self-Reported Sensory Gating and Stress-Related Hypertension

BACKGROUND

Increasing evidence views hypertension as a stress-induced disorder. Stressors must be "gated" by the brain before any inflammatory or immune processes that contribute to hypertension are initiated. No studies were found that examined sensory gating in relation to hypertension.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to determine if disturbances in self-reported sensory gating could differentiate normotensive from hypertensive young adults.

METHODS

A nonmatched, case-control design was used. We administered an online survey to 163 young adult participants. Participants were predominantly female, in their mid-20s, well educated, and approximately evenly distributed by race and hypertension status. The Sensory Gating Inventory (SGI) measured gating disturbances.

RESULTS

The mean SGI scores were significantly higher among persons diagnosed with hypertension, reflecting a moderate effect size of sensory gating. After adjusting for confounders, however, the normotensive and hypertensive groups were not significantly different on their SGI scores.

DISCUSSION

With an observed moderate effect size of 0.35, but low power, more research is warranted regarding the role of gating disturbances in the development of stress-induced hypertension. Clinically, the SGI may be important for screening patients who would benefit from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to identify persons with masked hypertension.

The Influence of Background Auditory Noise on P50 and N100 Suppression Elicited by the Paired-Click Paradigm

Abstract. Auditory sensory gating is commonly assessed using the Paired-Click Paradigm (PCP), an electroencephalography (EEG) task in which two identical sounds are presented sequentially and the brain’s inhibitory response to the second sound is measured. Many clinical populations demonstrate reduced P50 and/or N100 suppression. Testing sensory gating in children may help to identify individuals at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders earlier, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which could lead to more optimal outcomes. Minimal research has been done with children because of the difficulty of performing lengthy EEG experiments with young children, requiring them to sit still for long periods of time. We designed a modified, potentially child-friendly version of the PCP and evaluated it in typically developing adults. The PCP was administered twice, once in a traditional silent room (silent movie condition) and once with an audible movie playing (audible movie condition) to minimize boredom and enhance behavioral compliance. We tested whether P50 and N100 suppression were influenced by the presence of the auditory background noise from the movie. N100 suppression was observed in both hemispheres in the silent movie condition and in the left hemisphere only during the audible movie condition, though suppression was attenuated in the audible movie condition. P50 suppression was not observed in either condition. N100 sensory gating was successfully elicited with an audible movie playing during the PCP, supporting the use of the modified task for future research in both children and adults.

Meta-analysis of auditory P50 sensory gating in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

The ability of the brain to reduce the amount of trivial or redundant sensory inputs is called gating function. Dysfunction of sensory gating may lead to cognitive fragmentation and poor real-world functioning. The auditory dual-click paradigm is a pertinent neurophysiological measure of sensory gating function. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the subcomponents of abnormal P50 waveforms in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to assess P50 sensory gating deficits and examine effects of diagnoses, illness states (first-episode psychosis vs. schizophrenia, remission vs. episodes in bipolar disorder), and treatment status (medication-free vs. medicated). Literature search of PubMed between Jan 1st 1980 and March 31st 2019 identified 2091 records for schizophrenia, 362 for bipolar disorder. 115 studies in schizophrenia (4932 patients), 16 in bipolar disorder (975 patients) and 10 in first-degree relatives (848 subjects) met the inclusion criteria. P50 sensory gating ratio (S2/S1) and S1-S2 difference were significantly altered in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and their first-degree relatives. First-episode psychosis did not differ from schizophrenia, however episodes altered P50 sensory gating in bipolar disorder. Medications improve P50 sensory gating alterations in schizophrenia significantly and at trend level in bipolar disorder. Future studies should examine longitudinal course of P50 sensory gating in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Event-Related Potentials to Changes in Sound Intensity Demonstrate Alterations in Brain Function Related to Depression and Aging

Measures of the brain's automatic electrophysiological responses to sounds represent a potential tool for identifying age- and depression-related neural markers. However, these markers have rarely been studied related to aging and depression within one study. Here, we investigated auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in the brain that may show different alterations related to aging and depression. We used an oddball condition employing changes in sound intensity to investigate: (i) sound intensity dependence; (ii) sensory gating; and (iii) change detection, all within a single paradigm. The ERPs of younger (18-40 years) and older (62-80 years) depressed female participants and age-matched non-depressed participants were measured. Intensity dependence was examined as the difference between N1 responses to repeated high- and low-intensity sounds, sensory gating as N1 responses to rare and repeated sounds, and change detection as indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN). We found that intensity dependence was greater in older participants than younger ones, indicating effects related to aging but not to depression. For sensory gating, we found depression- and age-related alterations as increased N1 responses. No group differences were found for MMN. Although a sensory gating deficit was expected in older adults, this study is the first to demonstrate age-related overexcitability in sound intensity dependency. The results indicate that automatic brain responses to sound intensity changes are suitable for studying age- and depression-related neural markers but may not be sensitive enough to differentiate the effects of aging and depression.

P50-N100-P200 sensory gating deficits in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders

Sensory symptoms are common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Altered sensory gating may cause sensory overload. However, whether ASD individuals have P50 gating deficits is controversial in childhood and lacks evidence in adulthood. Beyond P50, fewer studies have examined N100 or P200, although N100 is considered to be more reliable than P50. Also, the clinical correlates of these parameters are mostly unknown. This study aimed to investigate P50, N100, and P200 sensory gating in adolescents and young adults with ASD and examine their clinical correlates. In a sample of 34 ASD participants (mean age 20.6 ± 4.1, female 5.9%) and 34 sex- and age-matched typically-developing controls (TDC, mean age 20.4 ± 3.1), we investigated P50, N100, and P200 sensory gating by a paired-click paradigm, which generated the data of S1 amplitude after the first click and S2 amplitude after the second click. We found that compared to TDC, ASD participants had significant N100 suppression deficits reflected by a larger N100 S2 amplitude, smaller N100 ratio of S2 over S1, and the difference between the two amplitudes. N100 S2 amplitude was significantly associated with sensory sensitivity independent of the diagnosis. Although there was no group difference in P50 suppression, S1 amplitude was negatively associated with social deficits in ASD. P200 gating parameters were correlated with attention switching difficulty. Our findings suggest N100 gating deficit in adolescents and young adults with ASD. The relationships between P50 S1 and social deficits and between N100 S2 and sensory sensitivity warrant further investigation.

Combining CDP-choline and galantamine: Effects of a selective α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist strategy on P50 sensory gating of speech sounds in healthy volunteers

BACKGROUND

Schizophrenia (SCZ) patients and relatives have deficits in early cortical sensory gating (SG) typically measured by suppression of electroencephalography-derived P50 event-related potentials (ERPs) in a conditioning-testing (S₁-S₂) paradigm. Associated with alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7 nAChR) dysfunction and shown to be improved with nicotine and α7 nAChR agonists, SG has recently been shown to be improved in low P50 suppressing SCZ patients following acute CDP-choline treatment.

AIMS

This pilot study in healthy humans assessed the SG effects of an α7 nAChR strategy combining CDP-choline with galantamine, a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of nAChRs, aimed at increasing and prolonging nicotinic receptor activity.

METHODS

The combined effect of CDP-choline (500 mg) and galantamine (16 mg) on speech P50 gating indices rP50 (S₂/S₁) and dP50 (S₁-S₂) was examined in 30 healthy participants stratified into low and high baseline P50 suppressors in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and counterbalanced design.

RESULTS

In low suppressors, CDP-choline/galantamine (vs. placebo) improved rP50 and dP50 gating, and reduced S₂P50 amplitudes. No P50 gating effects were observed in high suppressors; however, CDP-choline/galantamine (vs. placebo) increased their S₂P50 amplitudes.

CONCLUSION

Findings from this pilot study with CDP-choline/galantamine in a healthy, SCZ-like surrogate deficient gating sample are consistent with the association of α7 nAChR mechanisms in SG impairment in SCZ and support further research trials with CDP-choline and galantamine targeting sensory processes.

Combining CDP-choline and galantamine, an optimized α7 nicotinic strategy, to ameliorate sensory gating to speech stimuli in schizophrenia

Neural α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression and functioning deficits have been extensively associated with cognitive and early sensory gating (SG) impairments in schizophrenia (SCZ) patients and their relatives. SG, the suppression of irrelevant and redundant stimuli, is measured in a conditioning-testing (S₁-S₂) paradigm eliciting electroencephalography-derived P50 event-related potentials (ERPs), the S₂ amplitudes of which are typically suppressed relative to S₁. Despite extensive reports of nicotine-related improvements and several decades of research, an efficient nicotinic treatment has yet to be approved for SCZ. Following reports of SG improvements in low P50 suppressing SCZ patients and healthy participants with the α7 agonist, CDP-choline, this pilot study examined the combined modulatory effect of CDP-choline (500 mg) and galantamine (16 mg), a nAChR positive allosteric modulator and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on SG to speech stimuli in twenty-four SCZ patients in a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled design. As expected, in low P50 suppressors CDP-choline/galantamine (vs. Placebo) improved rP50 and dP50 scores by increasing inhibitory mechanisms as reflected by S₂P50 amplitude reductions. Results also suggest a moderating role for auditory verbal hallucinations in treatment response. These preliminary findings provide supportive evidence for the involvement of α7 nAChR activity in speech gating in SCZ and support additional trials, examining different dose combinations and repeated doses of this optimized and personalized targeted α7 cholinergic treatment for SG dysfunction in subgroups of SCZ patients.

Impairment in Mismatch Negativity but not Repetition Suppression in Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is characterized by impaired auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs), mismatch negativity (MMN), and sensory gating of AEPs to repeated stimuli (repetition suppression, RS). In the predictive modeling framework, MMN and RS reflect encoding of prediction error and model sharpening, respectively. We compared P50, N100, P200 RS, and pitch and duration MMN in 26 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ) and 26 matched healthy controls (HC), and assessed relationships between MMN, RS, and SZ diagnosis. RS was measured by comparing responses to individual tones presented as 5-tone groups (1 kHz, 75 dB, 50 ms, 5 ms rise/fall times, 330 ms SOA), separated by a 750 ms inter-trial interval. For MMN, the same tones were presented, with occasional pitch (1.2 kHz, 10%) or duration deviants (100 ms, 10%) interspersed. Pitch and duration MMN were reduced in SZ (p < 0.01). There were no group differences in P50 RS, N100 RS, or P200 RS (p's > 0.1). Importantly, although pitch and duration MMN both correlated with RS of AEPs within the MMN time range (p's < 0.01), SZ diagnosis predicted MMN over and above RS (p < 0.05) and shared little variance with RS in prediction of MMN amplitude (tolerance > 0.93). We suggest that reduced MMN in SZ is related to deficits in encoding prediction error but not repetition suppression.

Diminished Infant P50 Sensory Gating Predicts Increased 40-Month-Old Attention, Anxiety/Depression, and Externalizing Symptoms

OBJECTIVE

When behavioral problems resulting from attentional difficulties present, often in preschool, it is unknown whether these problems represent preexisting altered brain development or new brain changes. This study examines whether infant sensory gating of auditory evoked potentials predicts parent-reported behavior at 40 months.

METHOD

P50 sensory gating, an auditory evoked potential measure reflective of inhibitory processes in the brain, was measured in 50 infants around 70 days old. Parents, using the Child Behavior Checklist, reported on the child's behavior at 40 months.

RESULTS

Controlling for gender, infants with diminished sensory gating had more problems later with externalizing behavior ( F = 4.17, ndf = 1, ddf = 46, p = .047), attentional problems ( F = 5.23, ndf = 1, ddf = 46, p = .027), and anxious/depressed symptoms ( F = 5.36, ndf = 1, ddf = 46, p = .025).

CONCLUSION

Diminished infant P50 sensory gating predicts attention symptoms 3 years later. These results support the hypothesis that preschool attentional dysfunction may relate to altered brain development that is detectable years prior to symptom onset.

A Meta-analytic Review of Auditory Event-Related Potential Components as Endophenotypes for Schizophrenia: Perspectives From First-Degree Relatives

INTRODUCTION

As endophenotypes bridge the gap between genetics and phenotypic disease expression, identifying reliable markers is important for fostering understanding of pathophysiology. The present aim was to conduct current meta-analyses of 3 key auditory event-related potential (ERP) components that have been held as potential endophenotypes for schizophrenia: P50, P300 amplitude and latency, and mismatch negativity (MMN), reflective of sensory gating, attention and classification speed, and perceptual discrimination ability, respectively. In order to assess endophenotype viability, these components were examined in unaffected relatives of patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

METHODS

Effect sizes (ES) were examined between relatives and controls for P50 suppression (10 studies, n = 360 relatives, 473 controls), P300 amplitude (20 studies, n = 868 relatives, 961 controls), P300 latency (17 studies, n = 674 relatives, 792 controls), and MMN (11 studies, n = 377 relatives, 552 controls).

RESULTS

Reliable differences in P50 suppression (ES = 0.86, P < .001), P300 amplitude (ES = -0.52, P < .001), and P300 latency (ES = 0.44, P < .05) were found between unaffected relatives and controls. A trend was found between relatives and controls for MMN (ES = 0.21, P = 0.06), and the use of extraneous channels was found to be a significant moderator (P = 0.01). When MMN was analyzed using frontocentral channel Fz, a significant difference was found (ES = 0.26, P < 0.01).

DISCUSSION

The results indicate that P50 suppression, P300 amplitude and P300 latency, and MMN may serve as viable endophenotypes for schizophrenia.

Hypnotizability and Placebo Analgesia in Waking and Hypnosis as Modulators of Auditory Startle Responses in Healthy Women: An ERP Study

We evaluated the influence of hypnotizability, pain expectation, placebo analgesia in waking and hypnosis on tonic pain relief. We also investigated how placebo analgesia affects somatic responses (eye blink) and N100 and P200 waves of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by auditory startle probes. Although expectation plays an important role in placebo and hypnotic analgesia, the neural mechanisms underlying these treatments are still poorly understood. We used the cold cup test (CCT) to induce tonic pain in 53 healthy women. Placebo analgesia was initially produced by manipulation, in which the intensity of pain induced by the CCT was surreptitiously reduced after the administration of a sham analgesic cream. Participants were then tested in waking and hypnosis under three treatments: (1) resting (Baseline); (2) CCT-alone (Pain); and (3) CCT plus placebo cream for pain relief (Placebo). For each painful treatment, we assessed pain and distress ratings, eye blink responses, N100 and P200 amplitudes. We used LORETA analysis of N100 and P200 waves, as elicited by auditory startle, to identify cortical regions sensitive to pain reduction through placebo and hypnotic analgesia. Higher pain expectation was associated with higher pain reductions. In highly hypnotizable participants placebo treatment produced significant reductions of pain and distress perception in both waking and hypnosis condition. P200 wave, during placebo analgesia, was larger in the frontal left hemisphere while placebo analgesia, during hypnosis, involved the activity of the left hemisphere including the occipital region. These findings demonstrate that hypnosis and placebo analgesia are different processes of top-down regulation. Pain reduction was associated with larger EMG startle amplitudes, N100 and P200 responses, and enhanced activity within the frontal, parietal, and anterior and posterior cingulate gyres. LORETA results showed that placebo analgesia modulated pain-responsive areas known to reflect the ongoing pain experience.

Dose-Dependent Changes in Auditory Sensory Gating in the Prefrontal Cortex of the Cynomolgus Monkey

BACKGROUND Sensory gating, often described as the ability to filter out irrelevant information that is repeated in close temporal proximity, is essential for the selection, processing, and storage of more salient information. This study aimed to test the effect of sensory gating under anesthesia in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of monkeys following injection of bromocriptine, haloperidol, and phencyclidine (PCP). MATERIAL AND METHODS We used an auditory evoked potential that can be elicited by sound to examine sensory gating during treatment with haloperidol, bromocriptine, and PCP in the PFC in the cynomolgus monkey. Scalp electrodes were located in the bilateral PFC and bilateral temporal, bilateral parietal, and occipital lobes. Administration of bromocriptine (0.313 mg/kg, 0.625 mg/kg, and 1.25 mg/kg), haloperidol (0.001 mg/kg, 0.01 mg/kg, and 0.05 mg/kg), and the N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor antagonist PCP (0.3 mg/kg) influenced sensory gating. RESULTS We demonstrated the following: (1) Administration of mid-dose bromocriptine disrupted sensory gating (N100) in the right temporal lobe, while neither low-dose nor high-dose bromocriptine impaired gating. (2) Low-dose haloperidol impaired gating in the right prefrontal cortex. Mid-dose haloperidol disrupted sensory gating in left occipital lobe. High-dose haloperidol had no obvious effect on sensory gating. (3) Gating was impaired by PCP in the left parietal lobe. CONCLUSIONS Our studies showed that information processing was regulated by the dopaminergic system, which might play an important role in the PFC. The dopaminergic system influenced sensory gating in a dose- and region-dependent pattern, which might modulate the different stages that receive further processing due to novel information.

The involvement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) subunit NR1 in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that afflicts nearly 1% of the world population. Although the exact pathophysiology of schizophrenia is unknown, the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), a major glutamate receptor subtype, has received great attention. The NR1 subunit is often considered indispensable for functional NMDAR assemblies, abnormal modulation of which is found in patients with schizophrenia. In this review, we discuss how disrupted function of NR1 subunits in NMDAR leads to the progression and development of symptoms of schizophrenia-like behaviors in a variety of genetically modified mouse models. We also discuss some of the susceptible genes and shared signaling pathways among the schizophrenia, and how their mutations lead to NR1 subunits hypofunction. Finally, we suggest that the subunit-selective modulators of NR1 subunits in NMDA receptors may be promising tools for the therapy of schizophrenia.

N100 Repetition Suppression Indexes Neuroplastic Defects in Clinical High Risk and Psychotic Youth

Highly penetrant mutations leading to schizophrenia are enriched for genes coding for N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor signaling complex (NMDAR-SC), implicating plasticity defects in the disease's pathogenesis. The importance of plasticity in neurodevelopment implies a role for therapies that target these mechanisms in early life to prevent schizophrenia. Testing such therapies requires noninvasive methods that can assess engagement of target mechanisms. The auditory N100 is an obligatory cortical response whose amplitude decreases with tone repetition. This adaptation may index the health of plasticity mechanisms required for normal development. We exposed participants aged 5 to 17 years with psychosis (n = 22), at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis (n = 29), and healthy controls (n = 17) to an auditory tone repeated 450 times and measured N100 adaptation (mean amplitude during first 150 tones − mean amplitude during last 150 tones). N100 adaptation was reduced in CHR and psychosis, particularly among participants <13 years old. Initial N100 blunting partially accounted for differences. Decreased change in the N100 amplitude with tone repetition may be a useful marker of defects in neuroplastic mechanisms measurable early in life.

Comparing Pharmacological Modulation of Sensory Gating in Healthy Humans and Rats: The Effects of Reboxetine and Haloperidol

Sensory gating is the brain's ability to filter out irrelevant information before it reaches high levels of conscious processing. In the current study we aimed to investigate the involvement of the noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems in sensory gating. Furthermore, we investigated cross-species reliability by comparing effects in both healthy humans and rats, while keeping all experimental conditions as similar as possible between the species. The design of the human experiment (n=21) was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study where sensory gating was assessed following a dose of either reboxetine (8 mg), haloperidol (2 mg), their combination or placebo at four separate visits. Similarly in the animal experiment sensory gating was assessed in rats, (n=22) following a dose of reboxetine (2 mg/kg), haloperidol (0.08 mg/kg), their combination or placebo. The sensory gating paradigms in both experiments were identical. In humans, we found significantly reduced P50 suppression following separate administration of reboxetine or haloperidol, while their combined administration did not reach statistical significance compared with placebo. In the rats, we found a similar significant reduction of sensory gating (N40) following treatment with haloperidol and the combination of haloperidol and reboxetine, but not with separate reboxetine treatment, compared with placebo. Our study indicates that even when experimental conditions are kept as similar as possible, direct human to rat cross-species translation of pharmacological effects on sensory gating is challenging, which calls for more focussed research in this important translational area.

Impaired pre-attentive auditory processing in fibromyalgia: A mismatch negativity (MMN) study

OBJECTIVE

Fibromyalgia (FM) patients often show deficits in cognitive functions such as attention and working memory. We assumed that pre-attentive information processing, a crucial element in human perception and cognition, would be altered in FM patients. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine whether FM patients exhibit alterations in pre-attentive processing as assessed by auditory mismatch negativity (MMN).

METHODS

Auditory evoked magnetic fields were recorded in FM patients (n=18) and healthy control subjects (n=21) during a duration-deviant auditory oddball paradigm. The magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) was obtained by subtracting responses to standard tones from responses to deviant tones. Pressure pain thresholds over the thenar and trapezius muscles were determined using an algometer.

RESULTS

MMNm peak amplitudes in right hemispheres were attenuated, and the directional asymmetry coefficient of the MMNm amplitude was lower in FM patients, indicating a more leftward asymmetry than in healthy control subjects. Smaller right MMNm amplitude was associated with lower pressure pain thresholds of thenar muscles in FM patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggested that pre-attentive processing of auditory information is impaired in FM patients.

SIGNIFICANCE

This study provided neurophysiological evidence of impaired pre-attentive sensory change detection in FM.

Auditory M50 and M100 sensory gating deficits in bipolar disorder: a MEG study

OBJECTIVES

Auditory sensory gating deficits have been reported in subjects with bipolar disorder, but the hemispheric and neuronal origins of this deficit are not well understood. Moreover, gating of the auditory evoked components reflecting early attentive stage of information processing has not been investigated in bipolar disorder. The objectives of this study were to investigate the right and left hemispheric auditory sensory gating of the M50 (preattentive processing) and M100 (early attentive processing) in patients diagnosed with bipolar I disorder by utilizing magnetoencephalography (MEG).

METHODS

Whole-head MEG data were acquired during the standard paired-click paradigm in 20 bipolar I disorder patients and 20 healthy controls. The M50 and the M100 responses were investigated, and dipole source localizations were also investigated. Sensory gating were determined by measuring the strength of the M50 and the M100 response to the second click divided by that of the first click (S2/S1).

RESULTS

In every subject, M50 and M100 dipolar sources localized to the left and right posterior portion of superior temporal gyrus (STG). Bipolar I disorder patients showed bilateral gating deficits in M50 and M100. The bilateral M50 S2 source strengths were significantly higher in the bipolar I disorder group compared to the control group.

LIMITATIONS

The sample size was relatively small. More studies with larger sample sizes are warranted. Bipolar subjects were taking a wide range of medications that could not be readily controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that bipolar I disorder patients have auditory gating deficits at both pre-attentive and early attentive levels, which might be related to STG structural abnormality.

Sensory disturbances, inhibitory deficits, and the P50 wave in schizophrenia

Sensory gating disturbances in schizophrenia are often described as an inability to filter redundant sensory stimuli that typically manifest as inability to gate neuronal responses related to the P50 wave, characterizing a decreased ability of the brain to inhibit various responses to insignificant stimuli. It implicates various deficits of perceptual and attentional functions, and this inability to inhibit, or "gate", irrelevant sensory inputs leads to sensory and information overload that also may result in neuronal hyperexcitability related to disturbances of habituation mechanisms. These findings seem to be particularly important in the context of modern electrophysiological and neuroimaging data suggesting that the filtering deficits in schizophrenia are likely related to deficits in the integrity of connections between various brain areas. As a consequence, this brain disintegration produces disconnection of information, disrupted binding, and disintegration of consciousness that in terms of modern neuroscience could connect original Bleuler's concept of "split mind" with research of neural information integration.

The association between psychosis proneness and sensory gating in cocaine-dependent patients and healthy controls

This was a naturalistic study of 23 abstinent cocaine-dependent patients and 38 controls who were studied using a paired-stimulus paradigm to elicit three mid-latency auditory evoked responses (MLAERs), namely, the P50, N100, and P200. Sensory gating was defined as the ratio of the S2 amplitude to the S1 amplitude. Psychosis-proneness was assessed using four Chapman psychosis proneness scales measuring perceptual aberration, magical ideation, social anhedonia, and physical anhedonia. Omnibus correlations based upon the entire sample revealed significant and differential relationships between the MLAER components and psychosis-proneness. Social Anhedonia scale scores accounted for the largest proportion of variance in the P50 gating ratio, while Perceptual Aberration scores accounted for the largest proportion of variance in P200 gating. Psychosis proneness and sensory gating appear to be associated. In particular, poorer P50 gating is related to higher scores on the Social Anhedonia scale in healthy controls and across mixed samples of cocainede-pendent patients and controls. These findings hold significance for the further understanding of the relationship between deficient sensory gating ability and the propensity to developing psychotic symptoms in a vulnerable population like cocaine-dependent individuals.

P50 sensory gating in infants

Attentional deficits are common in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders including attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar mood disorder, and schizophrenia. There has been increasing interest in the neurodevelopmental components of these attentional deficits; neurodevelopmental meaning that while the deficits become clinically prominent in childhood or adulthood, the deficits are the results of problems in brain development that begin in infancy or even prenatally. Despite this interest, there are few methods for assessing attention very early in infancy. This report focuses on one method, infant auditory P50 sensory gating. Attention has several components. One of the earliest components of attention, termed sensory gating, allows the brain to tune out repetitive, noninformative sensory information. Auditory P50 sensory gating refers to one task designed to measure sensory gating using changes in EEG. When identical auditory stimuli are presented 500 ms apart, the evoked response (change in the EEG associated with the processing of the click) to the second stimulus is generally reduced relative to the response to the first stimulus (i.e. the response is "gated"). When response to the second stimulus is not reduced, this is considered a poor sensory gating, is reflective of impaired cerebral inhibition, and is correlated with attentional deficits. Because the auditory P50 sensory gating task is passive, it is of potential utility in the study of young infants and may provide a window into the developmental time course of attentional deficits in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. The goal of this presentation is to describe the methodology for assessing infant auditory P50 sensory gating, a methodology adapted from those used in studies of adult populations.

Hypnotizability, hypnosis and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex in healthy women: an ERP analysis

A working model of the neurophysiology of hypnosis suggests that highly hypnotizable individuals (HHs) have more effective frontal attentional systems implementing control, monitoring performance, and inhibiting unwanted stimuli from conscious awareness, than low hypnotizable individuals (LHs). Recent studies, using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the auditory startle reflex (ASR), suggest that HHs, in the waking condition, may show reduced sensory gating although they may selectively attend and disattend different stimuli. Using a within subject design and a strict subject selection procedure, in waking and hypnosis conditions we tested whether HHs compared to LHs showed a significantly lower inhibition of the ASR and startle-related brain activity in both time and intracerebral source localization domains. HHs, as compared to LH participants, exhibited (a) longer latency of the eyeblink startle reflex, (b) reduced N100 responses to startle stimuli, and (c) higher PPI of eyeblink startle and of the P200 and P300 waves. Hypnosis yielded smaller N100 waves to startle stimuli and greater PPI of this component than in the waking condition. sLORETA analysis revealed that, for the N100 (107 msec) elicited during startle trials, HHs had a smaller activation in the left parietal lobe (BA2/40) than LHs. Auditory pulses of pulse-with prepulse trials in HHs yielded less activity of the P300 (280 msec) wave than LHs, in the cingulate and posterior cingulate gyrus (BA23/31). The present results, on the whole, are in the opposite direction to PPI findings on hypnotizability previously reported in the literature. These results provide support to the neuropsychophysiological model that HHs have more effective sensory integration and gating (or filtering) of irrelevant stimuli than LHs.

Multi-components of evoked-brain potentials in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia

INTRODUCTION

The present study aims to detect the specific and common impairment index relative to evoked brain potentials (EBPS ) in deficit schizophrenia (DS) and nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS), and investigates the relationship between EBPs and clinical variables.

METHODS

The study used EBPs in 21 patients with DS, 38 patients with NDS, and 50 healthy controls (HCs) to investigate P300 waves, mismatch negative (MMN), sensory gating (SG) P50 and contingent negative variation (CNV). A comparison of three groups and the relationship between EBPs and clinical variables were performed using general linear model analyses and partial correlation, respectively.

RESULTS

Compared with HCs, both groups of patients showed delayed N1 , N2 , and P3a latency, and reduced N1 and N2 amplitude. The MMN showed delayed latency. The P50 ratios and the inhibited ratios were impaired, whereas SG loss ratios increased. CNV amplitude was reduced. Compared with HCs, NDS showed delayed latency of S2'-C in CNV, whereas DS showed shortened latency. Only NDS, when compared with HCs, showed delayed latency of P3b , Also, only DS, when compared with HCs, showed delayed latency of point A in CNV. Latency of point A in CNV of DS, correlated with a poorer Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (6 weeks) and was independent of clinical characteristics.

DISCUSSION

Schizophrenia represents a clinical syndrome with shared impairments in brain function, whereas DS is a relatively homogeneous subgroup of schizophrenia with unique pathophysiological changes.

Phase de-synchronization effects auditory gating in the ventral striatum but not auditory cortex

The underlying mechanisms and involved brain areas in sensory gating of repetitive auditory stimuli remain unclear. Especially, the influence of the auditory cortex and the role of temporal precision are under debate. Our first objective was to analyze gating dynamics of local field potentials in the primary auditory cortex and the ventral striatum in an animal experiment, particularly, assessing the influence of the cortex. The second aim was to follow the hypothesis that auditory gating results from phase de-synchronization of evoked potentials in response to the second auditory stimulus. Local field potentials were recorded simultaneously in the auditory cortex and ventral striatum of awake Mongolian gerbils (n=15) during stimulation with trains of frequency-modulated tones. Gating was analyzed by amplitude ratios of the auditory potentials evoked by the first two stimuli in a train, as well as by time-frequency analyses and between-area phase coupling. The strength of auditory gating in the striatum was found to exceed that in the primary auditory cortex by more than 50%. While total-signal-power was comparable between areas, energy in the striatum was primarily expressed in the non-phase-locked fraction. At the same time, energy in the auditory cortex remained phase-locked to the stimuli. Furthermore, we also observed a between-area phase unlocking during sound presentations. Phase de-synchronization appears to be the candidate mechanism behind attenuation of responses to identical repetitive stimuli in the ventral striatum. We conclude that a direct inhibitory response suppression by the auditory cortex plays a minor role in this process.

Functional imaging of the hemodynamic sensory gating response in schizophrenia

The cortical (auditory and prefrontal) and/or subcortical (thalamic and hippocampal) generators of abnormal electrophysiological responses during sensory gating remain actively debated in the schizophrenia literature. Functional magnetic resonance imaging has the spatial resolution for disambiguating deep or simultaneous sources but has been relatively under-utilized to investigate generators of the gating response. Thirty patients with chronic schizophrenia (SP) and 30 matched controls participated in the current experiment. Hemodynamic response functions (HRFs) for single (S1) and pairs (S1 + S2) of identical ("gating-out" redundant information) or nonidentical ("gating-in" novel information) tones were generated through deconvolution. Increased or prolonged activation for patients in conjunction with deactivation for controls was observed within auditory cortex, prefrontal cortex, and thalamus in response to single tones during the late hemodynamic response, and these group differences were not associated with clinical or cognitive symptomatology. Although patient hyperactivation to paired-tones conditions was present in several regions of interest, the effects were not statistically significant for either the gating-out or gating-in conditions. Finally, abnormalities in the postundershoot of the auditory HRF were also observed for both single and paired-tones conditions in patients. In conclusion, the amalgamation of the entire electrophysiological response to both S1 and S2 stimuli may limit hemodynamic sensitivity to paired tones during sensory gating, which may be more readily overcome by paradigms that use multiple stimuli rather than pairs. Patient hyperactivation following single tones is suggestive of deficits in basic inhibition, neurovascular abnormalities, or a combination of both factors.

Evidence of abnormalities in mid-latency auditory evoked responses (MLAER) in cognitive subtypes of patients with schizophrenia

Abnormalities in measures of mid-latency auditory evoked responses (MLAER) have frequently been reported in schizophrenia, while few studies have examined whether these measures could distinguish cognitive subtypes of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patterns of performance on MLAER measures could differentiate a cognitive subtype of patients characterized by pervasive cognitive deficits (CD) from patients with only mild cognitive deficits (CS) and controls. An auditory paired-click conditioning test was administered to 55 schizophrenia patients (26 CD, 29 CS) and 49 healthy controls. Amplitudes, latencies and sensory gating indices of the P50, N100, and P200 MLAER were analysed. The results showed that CD patients exhibited smaller S1 amplitudes of N100 and P200 than controls, while CS patients were comparable to controls. Binary logistic regression identified the P200 S1 amplitude as a significant predictor of patients' membership in the CD subtype. However, none of the other MLAER measures could differentiate the two subtypes of schizophrenia. These findings suggest that the abnormal pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying the electrophysiological brain responses to auditory stimulation are associated with the pervasive cognitive deficits, which characterize the CD subtype of schizophrenia. This finding might provide additional electrophysiological endophenotypes for future genetic research of schizophrenia.