Reticular stimulation and chlorpromazine: an animal model for schizophrenic overarousal.
It has been postulated that certain schizophrenic patients are in a state of continual central excitation and that improvement in these patients after treatment with chlorpromazine is a result of the action of the drug in reducing this excitation. A model was developed to test this postulated state of central excitation. Rats were electrically stimulated in the mesencephalic reticular formation while performing a simple attention task. Stimulation or treatment with chlorpromazine impaired the performance of the animals; however, the two treatments together resulted in performance indistinguishable from that seen after injections of saline alone.
D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008636:Mesencephalon; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012154:Reticular Formation; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical
D002746:Chlorpromazine