Prostaglandin D2-induced catalepsy in rats: role of 5-hydroxytryptamine

Treatment of schizophrenia: a clinical and preclinical evaluation of neuroleptic drugs

Forty years after the first clinical report on the effectiveness of chlorpromazine in psychiatric patients, neuroleptic drugs are still the most widely used drugs in the treatment of schizophrenia. Indeed, there are no other drugs which have proven to be as effective in the treatment of this severe psychiatric disorder. Yet, there are still many unresolved problems relating to neuroleptic drugs. The present review gives a comprehensive overview of our knowledge (and our lack of knowledge) with respect to the clinical and preclinical effects of neuroleptic drugs and tries to integrate this knowledge in order to identify the neuronal mechanisms underlying the therapeutic and side effects of neuroleptic drugs.

Effect of centrally administered prostaglandin D2 and some prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors on carrageenan-induced paw oedema in rats

The putative modulatory role of central prostaglandins (PGs) on peripheral inflammation has been explored by investigating the effects of intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) administered PGD2, the major rodent brain PG, hydrocortisone, a phospholipase A2 inhibitor, and the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors, paracetamol and mefenamic acid, on carrageenan-induced paw inflammation in rats. PGD2 produced a dose-related inflammation-augmenting effect, whereas hydrocortisone and the PG synthesis inhibitors, paracetamol and mefenamic acid, induced attenuation of the peripheral oedema. These findings confirm an earlier report from this laboratory which had indicated that central PGs may modulate peripheral inflammation and that conventional anti-inflammatory agents exert at least part of their effect by inhibiting central PG synthesis.