Effects of haloperidol on MK-801-induced memory deterioration in the Morris water maze and radial-arm maze tests in mice

While atypical antipsychotics have some beneficial effects on the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, typical antipsychotics lack the ability to improve cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of haloperidol (0.05, 0.075 mg/kg) on spatial memory in mice, using the Morris water maze (mwm) and radial arm maze (ram) tests,; moreover the effects of haloperidol on MK-801 -induced cognitive dysfunction was also evaluated. The results of this study revealed that (1) In the mwm test, MK-801 significantly increased escape latency starting from the 2nd acquisition session compared to control group and haloperidol failed to reverse this effect. (2) In the ram test, MK-801 significantly increased the number of errors in the retention trial compared to control group and haloperidol failed to reverse this effect. Our results revealed that MK-801 exerted spatial memory impairment in mwm and ram tests; haloperidol failed to improve MK-801 induced memory deterioration in mice.