Research data · Sensory function and startle
Prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle
From 2021 to 2025, 804 animal research papers mentioned prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle in their title or abstract, ranking it 20th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 23% fewer than the 1,043 papers of 2011 to 2015. Papers that mention any of the 90 tests rose 22% over the same span.
Papers by year
Animal research papers that mention prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle, by year, 2001 to 2026
The 2026 bar counts papers added to PubMed by November 8, 2026.
- Papers in a full year
- 2026 so far
Show the counts for each year
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 127 |
| 2002 | 117 |
| 2003 | 140 |
| 2004 | 165 |
| 2005 | 176 |
| 2006 | 160 |
| 2007 | 137 |
| 2008 | 193 |
| 2009 | 209 |
| 2010 | 200 |
| 2011 | 227 |
| 2012 | 223 |
| 2013 | 208 |
| 2014 | 204 |
| 2015 | 181 |
| 2016 | 190 |
| 2017 | 155 |
| 2018 | 172 |
| 2019 | 175 |
| 2020 | 170 |
| 2021 | 189 |
| 2022 | 177 |
| 2023 | 161 |
| 2024 | 147 |
| 2025 | 130 |
| 2026 (part year) | 122 |
Papers that mention prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle in mice and in rats, by year, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 35 | 75 |
| 2002 | 27 | 78 |
| 2003 | 47 | 80 |
| 2004 | 51 | 94 |
| 2005 | 62 | 107 |
| 2006 | 62 | 88 |
| 2007 | 55 | 77 |
| 2008 | 77 | 93 |
| 2009 | 84 | 110 |
| 2010 | 90 | 106 |
| 2011 | 86 | 122 |
| 2012 | 102 | 104 |
| 2013 | 99 | 88 |
| 2014 | 86 | 108 |
| 2015 | 81 | 77 |
| 2016 | 73 | 88 |
| 2017 | 68 | 64 |
| 2018 | 76 | 70 |
| 2019 | 83 | 74 |
| 2020 | 75 | 65 |
| 2021 | 86 | 72 |
| 2022 | 88 | 68 |
| 2023 | 65 | 54 |
| 2024 | 55 | 56 |
| 2025 | 49 | 45 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 804 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.
Species
“Other animals” counts papers that use none of the other species in this chart.
Strains and genetic lines
Strain names come from the MeSH terms PubMed adds when it indexes a paper. PubMed has indexed 672 of the 804 papers, so each bar is a share of those 672.
A paper indexed under two of these headings, such as knockout mice and a strain, counts under both.
Disease models these papers study
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle and study that disease model, with its share of the 804 papers. The model comes from a paper's MeSH terms. For a paper PubMed has not indexed, it comes from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, when that service finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one model.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 by disease model
Tests mentioned alongside prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests, with its share of the 804 papers that mention prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026. We show four of the five most cited papers and leave out one because of words in its title.
Nonthermal and reversible control of neuronal signaling and behavior by midinfrared stimulation.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2021. 100 citations.
Neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption caused by polystyrene nanoparticles in zebrafish embryo.
Sci Total Environ, 2023. 72 citations.
Trends Neurosci, 2023. 71 citations.
Effects of pyrethroids on brain development and behavior: Deltamethrin.
Neurotoxicol Teratol, 2021. 64 citations.
How we counted
A count is the number of animal research papers whose title or abstract mentions one of the test's search terms. It is not a count of experiments, labs or animals.
A paper that mentions prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 23 reviews. For 132 of the 804 papers, PubMed's indexing gave no species, so the species came from PubTator 3 finding one in the title or abstract.
The test's search terms are in the test list download. The full method, with each source and its terms of use, is on our main page, Behavioral tests in published research.
More sensory function and startle tests
These sensory function and startle tests also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025. Each test with 30 or more papers gets one.
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/prepulse-inhibition
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_prepulse_inhibition_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/prepulse-inhibition},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}