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Pharmacological evidence for cerebral dopamine receptor blockade by metoclopramide in rodents

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Abstract

Metoclopramide antagonises apomorphine-in-duced stereotypy in rats (ED50 1.5 mg/kg), apomorphine reversal of reserpine-induced locomotor suppression in mice (50% inhibition produced by 17 mg/kg), and apomorphineor amphetamine-induced turning behaviour in mice with unilateral lesions of the striatal dopaminergic nerve terminals (ED50 5.0 and 4.0 mg/kg respectively). Metoclopramide resembles pimozide in all these respects and appears to be a relatively potent antagonist of striatal dopamine receptors. Yet metoclopramide, in anti-emetic doses, has no effect on disability in Parkinson's disease or on the therapeutic benefit of l-Dopa and l-Dopa dyskinesias.

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Dolphin, A., Jenner, P., Marsden, C.D. et al. Pharmacological evidence for cerebral dopamine receptor blockade by metoclopramide in rodents. Psychopharmacologia 41, 133–138 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421070

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