Chemogenetic Restoration of the “Excitation‐Inhibition” Imbalance in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Ameliorates Schizophrenia‐Like Sensory Gating Deficits

Sensory gating is a neurological mechanism that filters out irrelevant sensory input, protecting cognitive processing from sensory overload. Patients with schizophrenia usually lack sensory gating, which severely affects normal cognitive functions due to an overload of irrelevant information. Sensory gating and cognitive tasks have been found to need moderate activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, the specific control mechanisms of the mPFC remain unknown. We assume that the “Excitation‐Inhibition” imbalance in the mPFC can induce schizophrenia‐like sensory gating and cognitive defects.