Abstract: Schizophrenia is a common psychotic disease whose etiology and mechanism are not well defined. It has been shown that the symptoms of cognitive disorder and abnormal thoughts of schizophrenics are associated with the deficit of sensory gating. Sensory gating refers to filter irrelevant sensory information from the external ones and then implement the cognitive process related to attention, so as to respond to prominent stimuli. The pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm is always used to study sensory gating. It has been found that dopamine D₂ receptors play a critical role in regulating PPI, but the mechanisms underlying the role of dopamine D₂ receptors in regulating PPI remain largely elusive. The review focuses on molecular mechanisms underlying the regulating effect of dopamine D2 receptors on sensory gating, so as to promote the in-depth study of sensory gating function in schizophrenia.

Key words: dopamine, sensory gating, dopamine D₂ receptor, pre-pulse inhibition, schizophrenia