Antipsychotic-like profile of alstonine

Although recently developed drugs have brought significant improvement, the treatment of psychotic disorders still presents serious drawbacks. Because inherent complexity and lack of satisfactory understanding of the underlying pathophysiology impose limits for rational drug design, resourceful approaches in the search for antipsychotics are pertinent. This article reports pharmacological properties of alstonine, a heteroyohimbine-type alkaloid, which exhibited an antipsychotic-like profile, inhibiting amphetamine-induced lethality, apomorphine-induced stereotypy, and potentiating barbiturate-induced sleeping time. Atypical features of alstonine were the prevention of haloperidol-induced catalepsy and lack of direct interaction with D-1, D-2 and 5-HT2A receptors, classically linked to antipsychotic mechanism of action. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.