Investigation of striatal dopamine D2 receptor acquisition following prenatal neuroleptic exposure

Prenatal exposition to haloperidol: A preclinical narrative review

Pre-existing maternal mental disorders may affect the early interactions between mother and baby, impacting the child's psychoemotional development. The typical antipsychotic haloperidol can be used during pregnancy, even with some restrictions. Its prescription is not limited to psychotic disorders, but also to other psychiatric conditions of high incidence and prevalence in the woman's fertile period. The present review focused on the preclinical available data regarding the biological and behavioral implications of embryonic exposure to haloperidol. The understanding of the effects of psychotropic drugs during neurodevelopment is important for its clinical aspect since there is limited evidence regarding the risks of antipsychotic drug treatment in pregnant women and their children. Moreover, a better comprehension of the mechanistic events that can be affected by antipsychotic treatment during the critical period of neurodevelopment may offer insights into the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. The findings presented in this review converge to the existence of several risks associated with prenatal exposure to such medication and emphasize the need for further studies regarding its dimensions.

Structural Effects and Neurofunctional Sequelae of Developmental Exposure to Psychotherapeutic Drugs: Experimental and Clinical Aspects

The advent of psychotherapeutic drugs has enabled management of mental illness and other neurological problems such as epilepsy in the general population, without requiring hospitalization. The success of these drugs in controlling symptoms has led to their widespread use in the vulnerable population of pregnant women as well, where the potential embryotoxicity of the drugs has to be weighed against the potential problems of the maternal neurological state. This review focuses on the developmental toxicity and neurotoxicity of five broad categories of widely available psychotherapeutic drugs: the neuroleptics, the antiepileptics, the antidepressants, the anxiolytics and mood stabilizers, and a newly emerging class of nonprescription drugs, the herbal remedies. A brief review of nervous system development during gestation and following parturition in mammals is provided, with a description of the development of neurochemical pathways that may be involved in the action of the psychotherapeutic agents. A thorough discussion of animal research and human clinical studies is used to determine the risk associated with the use of each drug category. The potential risks to the fetus, as demonstrated in well described neurotoxicity studies in animals, are contrasted with the often negative findings in the still limited human studies. The potential risk fo the human fetus in the continued use of these chemicals without more adequate research is also addressed. The direction of future research using psychotherapeutic drugs should more closely parallel the methodology developed in the animal laboratories, especially since these models have already been used extremely successfully in specific instances in the investigation of neurotoxic agents.

Prenatal haloperidol reduces the number of active midbrain dopamine neurons in rat offspring

The dopamine (DA) receptor antagonist, haloperidol (HAL, 1.25 or 5 mg/kg), or vehicle, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), was administered (SC) daily to pregnant Sprague-Dawley dams from gestational day (GD) 8 to GD 20. The average body weight of 2-week-old male offspring was significantly lower in all of the HAL-treated groups relative to controls. In extracellular electrophysiological studies, the male 2-week-old offspring from all HAL treatment groups were found to have significantly reduced average numbers of spontaneously active midbrain dopamine (DA)-containing neurons in both the substantia nigra (A9) and the ventral tegmental area (A10) relative to controls. In DA neurons classified as bursting neurons, HAL exposure (5 mg/kg) caused a significantly increased level of burst activity in A10 but not A9 DA neurons relative to controls. For both the A9 and A10 regions, the proportion of DA neurons classified as bursting or nonbursting was unaffected by HAL treatment. These results suggest that prenatal HAL exposure influences the development of midbrain DA neurons.