Symptom correlates of prepulse inhibition deficits in male schizophrenic patients

Information processing, inhibitory, and gating deficits in human and animal model studies of schizophrenia are demonstrated by using prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex. Prepulse inhibition deficits in schizophrenic patients correlate with core cognitive symptoms, such as thought disorder and distractibility, but their relationship to positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia is less clear.

Fifty-one male schizophrenic patients and 26 male normal comparison subjects were tested for prepulse inhibition of the eyeblink component of the startle reflex measured by electromyogram recording. Startling stimuli (118 dB) were presented alone (pulse only) or were preceded 60 msec by discrete prepulse stimuli of 2, 4, 8, or 16 dB above the background 70-dB noise level. In addition, patients were assessed for demographic variables, generalized symptoms (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale), and positive and negative symptoms.

Schizophrenic and comparison groups differed significantly in the amount of prepulse inhibition produced by the 16-dB prepulse, with schizophrenic patients showing the expected deficient prepulse inhibition. Latency of the eyeblink response was generally slower for the schizophrenic patients, but the prepulse-induced latency facilitation for schizophrenic patients and comparison subjects did not differ significantly. The pattern of prepulse inhibition deficits in schizophrenic patients remained, with age and education controlled, in an analysis of covariance and subgroup matching. Deficient prepulse inhibition correlated with both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Under these experimental conditions, schizophrenia-linked deficits in prepulse inhibition detected with a relatively strong prepulse are correlated with both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The level of correlation, while significant in this cohort, is not as robust as that in previous reports linking prepulse inhibition deficits with other measures, such as thought disorder. Future work should probably focus on the relationship of prepulse inhibition deficits to measures such as thought disorder rather than positive and negative symptoms.