CHRONIC HALOPERIDOL OR FLUPHENAZINE - EFFECTS ON DOPAMINE METABOLISM IN BRAIN, CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID AND PLASMA OF CERCOPITHECUS-AETHIOPS (VERVET MONKEY)

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 212  (1) , 1-5
Abstract
Chronic treatment with the anti-psychotic drug haloperidol [HP] for 3 or 5 wk (0.5 mg/kg, daily) resulted in significant increases of homovanillic acid (HVA) content in dorsal and orbital frontal cortex and in cingulate cortex. No change in HVA was seen in the olfactory cortex, basal ganglia, cisternal CSF or plasma of animals chronically treated with HP. Treatment with a single weekly dose of fluphenazine decanoate [FD] (5 mg/kg) for 3 wk resulted in increased HVA levels in all the above brain regions, cisternal CSF and plasma. The FD-treated group had a significantly higher incidence of extrapyramidal side effects than the HP-treated group. Chronically increased dopamine metabolite production in the basal ganglia but not in cortex is apparently reflected by increases in the HVA level of CSF and plasma and is accompanied by severe extrapyramidal side effects.