Influence of cigarette smoking on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response in schizophrenia

The prevalence of tobacco smoking is known to be higher in patients with sc hizophrenia than other psychiatric disorders and general population. These patients also show reduced prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle respons e. PPI refers to a reduction in response to a strong startling stimulus if preceded shortly by a stimulus of sub-threshold intensity. PPI is thought o f as an objective index of sensorimotor gating. Nicotine administered subcu taneously or via cigarette smoking enhances PPI in healthy human beings. It also enhances PPI at low, but not high, doses in the rat. We examined the influence of smoking on PPI of the acoustic startle response in 46 male pat ients with chronic schizophrenia. In a naturalistic design, patients (n = 9 ) who smoked a cigarette less than 10 min prior to being tested on PPI were compared with other smoking (n = 23) and nonsmoking patients (n = 14). We found that the group of patients who smoked a cigarette prior to being test ed had significantly greater PPI than other two groups. These observations suggest a PPI-enhancing effect of cigarette smoking on PPI in patents with schizophrenia. Higher prevalence of cigarette smoking in schizophrenic pati ents may reflect an attempt to improve sensorimotor gating deficits. Copyri ght (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.