Altered adult behavior of mice following postnatal treatment with haloperidol

Haloperidol (1 and 2 mg/kg) was administered SC daily to BALB/c and Swiss/Webster mice from postnatal days 4 through 21. Non consistent statistically significant drug effects were detected on growth and reflex development. Spontaneous motor activity increased significantly in both sexes of the Swiss/Webster outbred strain, and in the Balb/c males. Performance of a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement of both male and female haloperidol-exposed mice was not statistically different from control performance. Interpretation of such data must take into account the sensitivity of the testing devices, the effects of repeated testing of a single animal, and the suitability of traditional statistical methods in developmental pharmacology and toxicology.