| Abstract: | Neuroleptics (haloperidol, clozapine, pimozide, chlorpromazine) caused a decrease in the level of the free (functionally active) form of acetylcholine (ACh) and also, to some extent, of the bound form of ACh, inconsistent changes in the content of loosely bound (vesicular) form of ACh, and a weak effect on choline acetyltransferase activity in the basal ganglia of rats 5–30 min after injection. By contrast with their inhibitory action on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, in experiments in vitro most neuroleptics (except clozapine) increased ACh activity in vivo. These results show that neuroleptics activate ACh metabolism and evidently stimulate cholinergic structures in the basal ganglia; AChE activity can be used as a criterion of this stimulating action of the neuroleptics.Problem Laboratory in Neurohormone Biochemistry, Minsk Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR V. V. Zakusov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 85, No. 4, pp. 429–431, April, 1978. |
