Haloperidol rapidly increases the number of neurotensin mRNA-expressing neurons in neostriatum of the rat brain.

The effects of an acute low dose of haloperidol on neurotensin mRNA-containing cells in rat forebrain was studied using in situ hybridization histochemistry. Within 1 h of a single dose of haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg) a nearly 3-fold increase in the number of cells that express the neurotensin/neuromedin N-encoding mRNA was observed in the dorsolateral striatum. However, the number of hybridization-positive cells did not appear to be affected in the nucleus accumbens, or the septal nuclei following treatment with the neuroleptic.