Fig. 4: Behavioral temporal acuity is impaired by central nervous system (CNS) dysmyelination.
a Schematic of the auditory startle reflex (ASR) sound protocol. Constant background broadband noise (BBN, 70 dB) interrupted by a startle noise at random times (105 dB, 40 ms), occasionally preceded by a silent gap of varying length. All gaps presented were followed by 50-ms background sound before the startle appearance. The silent gap, if detected, diminished the startle effect of the loud noise. Each gap-startle combination was repeated ten times. b The percentage of ASR inhibition elicited by the different gaps showed a strong relationship between the gap length and the startle inhibition. Mbpneo/neo (orange, n = 6) but not Mbpshi/+ mice (with a 50% reduction in Mbp, yellow, n = 6) showed impaired inhibition of the ASR. Dotted line: threshold at 50% inhibition used for statistical analysis in c. c Gap-detection threshold is increased in Mbpneo/neo mice (two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test, P = 0.0048, t = 3.814), but not Mbpshi/+ (two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test, P = 0.36, t = −2.485; outlier depicted with a cross), compared to Wt (black, n = 9) animals. All graphs depict the mean and S.E.M. and individual data points are individual animals. Outliers are depicted with an x and were not considered in the statistical analysis. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
