The preventive/protective effect of testosterone on haloperidol Induced extra-pyramidal disorders in male rats

Many of non-motor symptoms of PD such as depression and sexual inability are correlated with testosterone deficiency. However, it is still opaque whether testosterone therapy can be influent directly on motor symptoms of PD or not. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effects of testosterone on extrapyramidal disturbances caused by haloperidol.
The experiments were performed on 60 male Wistar rats (180-200g). Animals were randomly divided into 10 groups. Each 6 animals were placed in a group. Rats pretreated with saline, polyethylene glycol, testosterone (1 mg/kg, i.p.) or flutamaide (10mg/kg, i.p.) for 1 day or 7 consecutive days before haloperidol injection. Catalepsy and motor-imbalance were induced by an intraperitoneal (i.p) injection of haloperidol (1 mg/kg) at the end of drugs treatment. The effects of testosterone and flutamaide on haloperidol-induced catalepsy and motor impairment were assessed by the bar test and rotarod, respectively.
Haloperidol was able to induce catalepsy (170±17.25) and motor imbalance (52±8), significantly (p Pretreatment by testosterone can significantly be effective in catalepsy remission, meanwhile flutamaide as an androgen receptor blocker impeded preventive/protective effect of testosterone. It seems that the anti-cataleptic effect of testosterone is exerted through affecting on androgenic receptors.