[Changes in the number of benzodiazepine receptors in different parts of the brain of rats after neuroleptic withdrawal].

It has been demonstrated in experiments on rats receiving chronic (16 days) treatment with haloperidol (1.0 mg/kg/day), sulpiride (50 mg/kg/day) and clozapine (10 mg/kg/day) that binding of 3H-flunitrazepam in the striatum, limbic system, and cortex is reduced at the 5th day after withdrawal of the neuroleptics. That release was determined by the diminution of the number of receptors without changing in the dissociation constant. The reduction in the density of benzodiazepine receptors (BD-receptors) after withdrawal of the neuroleptics attests to their agonistic effect on BD-receptors. Apparently these changes are not linked with a direct effect of the neuroleptics on BD-receptors, since they displace 3H-flunitrazepam in experiments in vitro only at micromolar concentrations. It is assumed that the reduction in 3H-flunitrazepam binding is mediated via the GABAergic system transsynaptically in response to increase in the number of dopamine (neuroleptic) receptors.