Chlorpromazine, haloperidol, metoclopramide and domperidone release prolactin through dopamine antagonism at low concentrations but paradoxically inhibit prolactin release at high concentrations

1. The effects of chlorpromazine, haloperidol, metoclopramide and domperidone on the release of prolactin from perfused columns of dispersed rat anterior pituitary cells were studied. 2. Chlorpromazine, haloperidol, metoclopramide and domperidone antagonized the dopamine-mediated inhibition of prolactin release at low concentrations. 3. Each dopamine antagonist displaced the dose-response curve for dopamine-induced suppression of prolactin release to the right in a parallel manner. 4. At higher concentrations, the four drugs became less effective as dopamine antagonists. 5. At high concentrations in the absence of dopamine, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, metoclopramide and domperidone paradoxically suppressed prolactin secretion by an unknown mechanism.