Sensorimotor gating and anxiety: prepulse inhibition following acute exercise

This investigation examined whether gating related deficits among individuals with high trait anxiety could be moderated by an acute bout of exercise. Low (LA) and high (HA) trait anxious participants engaged in either a quiet rest or an exercise session on separate occasions. Replicating previous findings, HA participants exhibited significantly reduced PPI at lead intervals of 30 and 60 ms relative to LA controls. HA and LA participants were also found to occasion similar PPI following exercise relative to quiet rest. This finding was found to be independent of the order in which quiet rest or exercise occurred, and was not a function of differences in raw startle blink amplitude between sessions. The current results highlight the potential for PPI to index the potential anxiolytic effects of an acute exercise bout.