Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex is a measure of sensorimotor gating. In this task, as in the spatial Y-maze, the control mice performance was not fully mature at 8 weeks old, performance significantly increased at 12 weeks of age (Figure S2B in Supplement 1). Therefore, we tested at 12 weeks old, where KO mice were significantly impaired in PPI (Figure 2E) albeit with normal startle reflex amplitudes (Figure 2F). APO treatment only partially rescued PPI deficits; KO mice showed normal PPI at 74 dB and 78 dB (Figure 2E). This was presumably because the genotype effect on PPI deficits is more robust than the social isolation environmental effect. Indeed, we found no effect of PWSI or adolescent social isolation on the extent of PPI deficits of KO mice (Figure S2C in Supplement 1).
