Haloperidol catalepsy in grouped and isolated mice.

A method was worked out to assess in a quantitative and dose-dependent way the development of catalepsy of mice after low doses of haloperidol. This method was also capable of detecting the anticataleptic effect of phenytoin and the catalepsy-enhancing effect of nikethamide. After 4 weeks' isolation, the mice became aggressive and revealed increased susceptibility to the cataleptic effect of haloperidol. The analysis of the data indicates that in these experiments altered central mechanisms were more important than changes of the peripheral pharmacokinetics of haloperidol.