1. ¹Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Stanley Center for Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2. ²Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
3. ³Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
4. ⁴Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
5. ⁵Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Correspondence: Dr SJ Siegel, Division of Neuropsychiatry, Stanley Center for Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry, Clinical Research Building Rm. 145a, 415 Curie Boulevard, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Tel: +1 215 573 0278; Fax: +1 215 662 7903; E-mail: siegels@mail.med.upenn.edu

Received 13 May 2003; Revised 17 November 2003; Accepted 20 November 2003; Published online 21 January 2004.

Abstract

Auditory evoked potentials have been used in a variety of animal models to assess information-processing impairments in schizophrenia. Previous mouse models have primarily employed a paired click paradigm to assess the transient measures of auditory gating. The current study uses stimulus trains at varied interstimulus intervals (ISI) between 0.25 and 8 s in mice to assess the effects of chronic olanzapine and haloperidol on auditory processing. Data indicate that olanzapine increases the amplitude of the N40, P80, and P20/N40 components of the auditory evoked potential, whereas haloperidol had no such effect. The ISI paradigm also allowed for an evaluation of several components of the mouse evoked potential to assess those that display response properties similar to the human P50 and N100. Data suggest that the mouse N40 displays an ISI response relationship that shares characteristics with the human N100, whereas the P20 appears more consistent with the human P50 across the ISI range evaluated in this task. This study suggests that olanzapine may help improve N100 impairments seen in schizophrenia, while haloperidol does not.