Salicylate results in a decreased ability to blunt the acoustic startle response (ASR) under conditions of gap inhibition.

<p>Performance during ASR testing was recorded before treatment (Baseline), 1 hr following the second day of salicylate administration (Post Treatment 1) and seven hrs following the third day of salicylate administration (Post Treatment 2). Relative to a full startle response (100%), untreated rats detected the gap and prepulse and could suppress the startle reflex across all frequencies (baseline in <b>A</b>). Across all frequencies significant decreases in pASR were observed relative to baseline both one hour following salicylate administration (Post Treatment 1) and seven hours after treatment (Post Treatment 2) (<b>A</b>). When compared to baseline, p = 0.0001 for both Post Treatment 1 and 2 (compare a–b and a–c). Post Treatment 1 and 2 were also significantly different from one another (b–c; p = 0.0004). At 12 kHz the % sound off startle initially changed by 12% (p = 0.05) from Baseline to Post Treatment 1, but was not significantly different from Baseline during Post Treatment 2 testing (<b>B</b>). Differing letters denote significance across time points, p≤0.05 was significant; error bars equal SEM.