Effects of haloperidol and clozapine on sensorimotor gating deficits induced by 5-hydroxytryptamine depletion in the brain

Abstract

1 Evidence is increasing for a role of brain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) systems in schizophrenia. We previously showed that brain 5-HT depletion causes disruption of prepulse inhibition, a measure of sensorimotor gating that is deficient in schizophrenia. Antipsychotic treatment has been reported to reverse these deficits in patients with schizophrenia. The present study was designed to investigate the ability of antipsychotic drugs to reverse prepulse inhibition deficits caused by lesions of the brain 5-HT system in rats. 2 In male Sprague-Dawley rats, selected parts of the brain 5-HT systems were lesioned by microinjection of the 5-HT neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine into the dorsal raph..