Strain-specificity in nicotine attenuation of phencyclidine-induced disruption of prepulse inhibition in mice: Relevance to smoking in schizophrenia patients

Schizophrenia patients may exhibit high tobacco smoking rates in part to self-medicate sensory gating deficits with nicotine contained in tobacco. To test this hypothesis, we induced sensorimotor gating deficits in four mouse strains with phencyclidine, a noncompetitive antagonist of glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Nicotine attenuated the disruption in prepulse inhibition induced by phencyclidine in DBA/2J and C3H/HeJ but not in C57BL/6J or 129T2/SvEmsJ mice. These results highlight genetic variations in the regulation by nicotinic cholinergic systems of the dysfunction in glutamatergic transmission contributing to gating deficits in schizophrenia. Further, these findings support the hypothesis of self-medication of gating deficits in schizophrenia through tobacco smoking, and suggest that treatments targeting genetic dysfunctions in nicotinic-glutamatergic interactions that would treat cognitive deficits will assist schizophrenia patients in minimizing tobacco smoking.