Aberrant Auditory Steady-State Response of Awake Mice After Single Application of the NMDA Receptor Antagonist MK-801 Into the Medial Geniculate Body

BACKGROUND: Systemic administration of noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists such as MK-801 is widely used to model psychosis of schizophrenia (SZ). Acute systemic MK-801 in rodents caused an increase of the auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs), the oscillatory neural responses to periodic auditory stimulation, while most studies in patients with SZ reported a decrease of ASSRs. This inconsistency may be attributable to the comprehensive effects of systemic administration of MK-801. Here, we examined how the ASSR is affected by selectively blocking NMDAR in the thalamus. METHODS: We implanted multiple electrodes in the auditory cortex (AC) and prefrontal cortex to simultaneously record the local field potential and spike activity (SA) of multiple sites from awake mice. Click-trains at a 40-Hz repetition rate were used to evoke the ASSR. We compared the mean trial power and phase-locking factor and the firing rate of SA before and after microinjection of MK-801 (1.5 µg) into the medial geniculate body (MGB). RESULTS: We found that both the AC and prefrontal cortex showed a transient local field potential response at the onset of click-train stimulus, which was less affected by the application of MK-801 in the MGB. Following the onset response, the AC also showed a response continuing throughout the stimulus period, corresponding to the ASSR, which was suppressed by the application of MK-801. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the MGB is one of the generators of ASSR, and NMDAR hypofunction in the thalamocortical projection may account for the ASSR deficits in SZ.