What is it about?
Dopamine antagonist drugs have profound effects on locomotor activity. In particular, the administration of the D2 antagonist haloperidol produces a state that is similar to catalepsy. In order to confirm whether the modulation of the dopaminergic activity produced by haloperidol can act as an unconditioned stimulus, we carried out two experiments in which the administration of haloperidol was repeatedly paired with the presence of distinctive contextual cues that served as a Conditioned Stimulus. Paradoxically, the results revealed a dose-dependent increase in locomotor activity following conditioning with dopamine antagonist (Experiments 1) that was susceptible of extinction when the conditioned stimulus was presented repeatedly by itself after conditioning (Experiment 2). These data are interpreted from an associative perspective, considering them as a result of a classical conditioning process
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Why is it important?
Studying haloperidol is important because it affects movement by blocking dopamine and can cause catalepsy. Conditioning with haloperidol shows that environmental cues can increase activity despite the drug’s effects. This reveals how learning influences motor responses and helps understand side effects and brain mechanisms in disorders like Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.
Perspectives
I believe our findings highlight that haloperidol’s effects on movement are influenced not only by its pharmacology but also by associative learning. Showing that haloperidol can serve as an unconditioned stimulus in classical conditioning reveals how environmental cues can modify drug responses, leading to paradoxical increases in activity. This insight is important for understanding and managing motor side effects of antipsychotics and suggests that learning processes play a key role in dopaminergic system adaptation. I hope this work encourages further research on how conditioning affects dopamine-related behaviors and treatments.
María Auxiliadora Mena Peinado
Universidad Internacional de La Rioja
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Conditioned increase of locomotor activity induced by haloperidol, PLOS One, October 2018, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200178.
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