Early-life risperidone alters locomotor responses to apomorphine and quinpirole in adulthood

An escalating trend of antipsychotic drug use in children with ADHD, disruptive behavior disorder, or mood disorders has raised concerns about the impact of these drugs on brain development. Since antipsychotics chiefly target dopamine receptors, it is important to assay the function of these receptors after early-life antipsychotic administration. Using rats as a model, we examined the effects of early-life risperidone, the most prescribed antipsychotic drug in children, on locomotor responses to the dopamine D₁/D₂ receptor agonist, apomorphine, and the D₂/D₃ receptor agonist, quinpirole. Female and male Long-Evans rats received daily subcutaneous injections of risperidone (1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg) or vehicle from postnatal day 14–42. Locomotor responses to one of three doses (0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 mg/kg) of apomorphine or quinpirole were tested once a week for four weeks beginning on postnatal day 76 and 147 for each respective drug. The locomotor activity elicited by the two lower doses of apomorphine was significantly greater in adult rats, especially females, administered risperidone early in life. Adult rats administered risperidone early in life also showed more locomotor activity after the low dose of quinpirole. Overall, female rats were more sensitive to the locomotor effects of each agonist. In a separate group of rats administered risperidone early in life, autoradiography of forebrain D₂ receptors at postnatal day 62 revealed a modest increase in D₂ receptor density in the medial caudate. These results provide evidence that early-life risperidone administration can produce long-lasting changes in dopamine receptor function and density.