Clozapine pre-treatment enhances raclopride catalepsy

The clinical replacement of clozapine by another antipsychotic sometimes causes extrapyramidal signs, including dystonia, to appear suddenly. The present study was done, therefore, to test whether clozapine pre-treatment of rats could affect raclopride-induced catalepsy. Clozapine, at 5 mg/kg, given 2 h before a catalepsy-threshold dose of 0.1 mg/kg raclopride, markedly enhanced raclopride-induced catalepsy in the rats. The results are compatible with earlier in vitro data where pre-exposure of human cloned dopamine D2 receptors to clozapine resulted in an increased potency of raclopride in inhibiting the binding of [3H]clozapine to the receptors. The mechanism of clozapine potentiation of raclopride action may contribute to the clinically observed post-clozapine dystonia.