Behavioral Studies of Hallucinogenic Drugs in Animals: Implications for Schizophrenia Research

Abstract

Schizophrenic and schizotypal patients exhibit deficits in the habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle responses, providing operational measures of the sensorimotor gating or filtering deficits suggested to contribute to cognitive disorganization in these patients. In rats, hallucinogens, entactogens, and NMDA antagonists share the ability to both retard startle habituation and disrupt PPI. Extensive pharmacological studies in rats have indicated that the effects of hallucinogens on habituation are mediated by direct agonist actions at 5-HT2 receptors. The effects of the entactogens on both habituation and PPI reflect indirect agonist actions due to the stimulation of presynaptic serotonin release. These observations in rats have supported the development of 5-HT2A antagonists for the treatment of schizophrenia. Animal studies have shown that PPI is modulated by multiple interacting neurotransmitters, including dopaminergic, serotonergic, cholinergic, GA-BAergic, and glutamatergic systems within cortical, limbic, striatal, and brainstem structures. The effects of PCP and other NMDA antagonists on PPI are insensitive to either dopaminergic or serotonergic antagonists, but are reduced by atypical antipsychotics such as clozapine, olanzapine, and Seroquel. Thus, the PCP model of schizophrenia-like deficits in sensorimotor gating offers promise for the identification and neurobiological investigation of atypical antipsychotics. The cross-species study of homologous gating functions, such as habituation and PPI, in animal models and psychiatric patients provides novel opportunities for the exploration of neurobiological substrates relevant to the group of schizophrenias.