Abstract
Central nervous system (CNS) inhibitory mechanisms hypothesized to "gate" repetitive sensory inputs have been implicated in the pathology of schizophrenia. The present study investigated gender differences in inhibitory gating of evoked brain responses to repeated stimuli in normal subjects (30 women and 30 men) using an auditory conditioning-testing paradigm. Pairs of click stimuli (S1 and S2) were presented with a 0.5 s intrapair and a 10 s interpair interval. The amplitudes and latencies of the P50, N100, P180 components of the auditory evoked response to the conditioning (S1) and test response (S2) were measured, and the gating ratios were computed (T/C ratio = S2/S1 * 100). The amplitudes to S1 were not significantly different between men and women at P50, N100, or P180. However, women had significantly higher amplitudes to S2 at P50 (p = 0.03) and N100 (p = 0.04). The T/C ratios for women were higher (i.e., less suppression of response to S2) for P50 (p = 0.08) and N100 (p = 0.04) compared to men. The results suggested that differences in auditory gating between men and women were not due to biological differences in the P50 and N100 generators but possibly to differential influence of inhibitory mechanisms acting on the generator substrates of these evoked responses.
Highlights
The strength of inhibitory pathways in the central nervous systems (CNS) has been measured by the reduction in neuronal responsiveness to repeated stimulation (Eccles 1969; Sokolov 1963)
The major finding of this study is that gender influenced gating of the auditory evoked potential in healthy, relatively young adults
Women had significantly higher mean amplitude responses of the P50 and N100 auditory evoked potential (AEP) to the second click, and significantly higher N100 T/C ratios compared to men, indicating less gating
Summary
The strength of inhibitory pathways in the central nervous systems (CNS) has been measured by the reduction in neuronal responsiveness to repeated stimulation (Eccles 1969; Sokolov 1963). Several reports have described gating of the midlatency, P50 auditory evoked brain response among normal subjects using the conditioning-testing paradigm (e.g., Freedman et al 1987a; Guterman et al 1992; Jerger et al 1992; Nagamoto et al 1989; Perlstein et al 1993; Schwartzkopf et al 1993; Waldo and Freedman 1986). It is the clinical application of this paradigm that has generated the most interest. The present paper investigated gender differences in CNS gating of the P50, N100, and P180 auditory evoked potentials in normal adults
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