c-fos Expression of Rat Brain by Antipsychotics : Contrasting Effects of Haloperidol and Clozapine

항정신병 약물에 의한 백서 뇌에서의 c-fos 발현 : 할로페리돌과 클로자핀의 효과 비교

To investigate characteristic drug effects on the genetic basis, the authors administered haloperidol- the $D_2$ antagonist- and clozapine -the atypical antipsychotics with few extra- pyramidal side effects- to the rats. Then, we edobtain brain specimen from the striatum, prefrontal cortex, and cortical region and compared the degree of c-fos expression. The results are 1) haloperidol was found to produce a rapid and transient induction of dos mRNA expression in striatum as compared with cortex and prefrontal area. 2) clozapine was found to produce rapid induction of c-fos mRNA in striatum and prefrontal area. From these data, we can concluded that the mechanism of action of haloperidol is different from the mechanism of clozapine in gene expression.