Affiliations: [a] Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA | [b] Department of Biometry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA | [c] Department of Otolaryngology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Edgar Garcia-Rill, PhD, Department of Anatomy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Tel.: +1 501 686 5167; Fax: +1 501 686 6382; E-mail: [email protected]
Note: [**] Current addresses: Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
Note: [***] Current addresses: Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela
Abstract: The P13 mid-latency auditory evoked potential in Rat is a sleep state-dependent response thought to be equivalent to the human P50 potential, a measure of the output of the reticular activating system. The amplitude of these potentials can be considered a measure of level of arousal, while, using a paired stimulus paradigm, the degree of habituation of the responses also can be assessed. Different durations of rotation were found to reduce the amplitude of the P13 potential, which recovered in a duration-dependent manner. Different durations of rotation led to decreases in habituation of the P13 potential again in a duration-dependent manner. These results suggest that rotation may affect the level of arousal as well as habituation to repetitive sensory inputs. Such effects could be interpreted to imply the presence, following rotation of sufficient duration, of a deficit in sensory gating, or distractibility, and are relevant for the study of the effects of space motion sickness.
