The olfactory tubercle as a site of action of neuroleptics with an atypical profile in the paw test: effect of risperidone, prothipendyl, ORG 5222, sertindole and olanzapine.

The paw test was used to detect the preclinical profile (classical versus atypical) of five putative, atypical neuroleptics, namely olanzapine, sertindole, risperidone, prothipendyl and ORG 5222. In the paw test classical neuroleptics increase the hindlimb reaction time (HRT), a parameter with predictive validity for antipsychotic efficacy, at doses comparable to those necessary for increasing forelimb reaction time (FRT), a parameter with predictive validity for extrapyramidal side-effects, whereas atypical neuroleptics increase HRT at doses that are much smaller than those increasing FRT. All tested compounds showed the profile of atypical neuroleptics in the paw test. Using the FRT/HRT ratio of minimum effective doses as overall predictor of a favourable ratio of extrapyramidal and therapeutic effects of these drugs, the following order was found: olanzapine (20) > sertindole = risperidone = prothipendyl (10) > ORG 5222 (3). The ability of compounds to attenuate locomotor activity elicited either from the olfactory tubercle (10 micrograms dopamine: OT test) or from the nucleus accumbens (1 microgram ergometrine: ACC test) was used to establish whether the compounds preferentially act in one of these structures. Previous research has shown that classical neuroleptics are far less potent in the OT test than in the ACC test, whereas atypical neuroleptics are far more potent in the OT test than in the ACC test. All five agents preferentially acted in the olfactory tubercle. The order of potency in the olfactory tubercle was as follows: sertindole > ORG 5222 > risperidone > olanzapine > prothipendyl. It is concluded that risperidone, prothipendyl, ORG 5222, sertindole and olanzapine not only show the profile of atypical neuroleptics in the paw test, but also preferentially act in the olfactory tubercle, but not in the nucleus accumbens, viz. two features that they share with the atypical neuroleptics clozapine and thioridazine and with the putative, atypical neuroleptics raclopride and remoxipride.