Toxoplasma gondii exposure affects neural processing speed as measured by acoustic startle latency in schizophrenia and controls

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• 作者：Bradley D. Pearce ; Sydney Hubbard ; Hilda N. Rivera ; Patricia P. Wilkins ; Marylynn C. Fisch ; Myfanwy H. Hopkins ; Wendy Hasenkamp ; Robin Gross ; Nancy Bliwise ; Jeffrey L. Jones ; Erica Duncan
• 关键词：Schizophrenia ; Toxoplasma gondii ; Acoustic startle ; Latency
• 刊名：Schizophrenia Research
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：October, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：150
• 期：1
• 页码：258-261
• 全文大小：340 K

文摘

The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (TOXO) infection in schizophrenia (SCZ) is elevated compared to controls (odds ratio = 2.73). TOXO infection is associated with psychomotor slowing in rodents and non-psychiatric humans. Latency of the acoustic startle response, an index of neural processing speed, is the time it takes for a startling stimulus to elicit the reflexive response through a three-synapse subcortical circuit. We report a significant slowing of latency in TOXO seropositive SCZ vs. seronegative SCZ, and in TOXO seropositive controls vs. seronegative controls. Latency was likewise slower in SCZ subjects than in controls. These findings indicate a slowing of neural processing speed with chronic TOXO infection; the slowest startle latency was seen in the TOXO seropositive SCZ group.