The dopaminergic stabiliser ACR16 counteracts the behavioural primitivization induced by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 in mice: implications for cognition.

The Carlsson research group has developed a series of compounds capable of stabilising the dopamine system without inducing the deleterious hypodopaminergia that encumbers the currently used antipsychotic drugs. In the present study one of these dopaminergic stabilisers, ACR16, was tested in a mouse model for cognitive deficits of schizophrenia and autism. Since we believe that hypoglutamatergia is a key element in both schizophrenia and autism we used mice rendered hypoglutamatergic by treatment with the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist MK-801. MK-801 causes both hyperactivity and a behavioural primitivization. ACR16 attenuated the MK-801-induced hyperactivity and, in addition, caused a marked improvement of behavioural quality with a movement pattern approaching that of control animals. Since we believe that the impoverishment of the behavioural repertoire caused by MK-801 may correspond to the cognitive deficits seen in schizophrenia and autism, these results suggest that ACR16 may improve cognitive status in these disorders.