Antibodies to spiroperidol and their anti-idiotypes as probes for studying dopamine receptors.

Spiroperidol was covalently conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA). Conjugated spiroperidol was almost as efficient as free spiroperidol in its binding capacity to dopamine receptor. Antibodies to spiroperidol were produced in rabbits following repeated immunizations with the conjugate of spiroperidol and BSA. The obtained antibodies have an apparent KD of 0.02 nM for [3H]-spiroperidol. These antibodies bind also to other butyrophenones with IC50 values three to four orders of magnitude higher than the IC50 obtained with unlabeled spiroperidol. Antibodies were purified from anti-spiroperidol sera by affinity chromatography. Anti-idiotypic antibodies were raised in rabbits by immunization with the purified anti-spiroperidol antibodies. Some rabbits produced anti-idiotypic antibodies which bind to rat and calf striatum.