[Changes in cerebral gangliosides during long-term administration of amphetamine and haloperidol].

The effects of chronic intraperitoneal amphetamine and haloperidol on the levels and composition of gangliosides in the frontal cortex, striate body, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata were studied in rats. In the control, the total levels of gangliosides were 1960 +/- 130 nmol/g of tissue in the frontal cortex, 2160 +/- 80 in the striate body, 1720 +/- 110 in the cerebellum, and 1010 +/- 70 in the medulla oblongata. Eight distinct fractions of gangliosides were differentiated in any of these brain areas (GQ1b, GT1b, GT2, GD1b, GD1a, GD3, GM1, GM3). Amphetamine caused a relative increase in GD1b, while haloperidol, an increase in GT1b and a decrease in GD1a, GM1 and GM3. There were some differences between the individual brain areas under study, but on the whole the effects of these drugs on the brain gangliosides did not reflect their opposite actions at the behavioural level.