Morphine may not produce true catalepsy.
Though catalepsy is one of the primary features classically associated with morphine injections in animals, several investigators have suggested that morphine may not produce true catalepsy. A study was therefore undertaken using the most widely accepted tests of catalepsy to determine whether a dose related catalepsy could be obtained in rats. The effect produced by morphine was then compared with the catalepsy elicited by subthreshold to suprathreshold doses of haloperidol. In the course of catalepsy assessment, it was found that half the tests employed could not distinguish between the several doses of morphine that were administered. Moreover, the cataleptoid behavior induced by morphine failed to satisfy nearly all of the criteria most widely used for catalepsy. This is in marked contrast to the results obtained with varying doses of haloperidol. These results are compatible with the suggestion that morphine may not be a true cataleptigenic agent.
D000818:Animals; D002375:Catalepsy / Q000139:chemically induced*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006220:Haloperidol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D009020:Morphine; D006220:Haloperidol