BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Many non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease such as depression are associated with testosterone deficiency. On the other hand, the effect of testosterone therapy on the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease is unknown. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of testosterone on haloperidol-induced extrapyramidal disorders.
METHODS: In this experimental study, 60 male Wistar rats weighing 180–220 g were randomly divided into 10 groups of 6. Rats were intraperitoneally pretreated with saline, polyethylene glycol, flutamide (10 mg/kg) or testosterone (1 mg/kg) for 1 or 7 consecutive days and before administration of haloperidol. The effects of testosterone and flutamide on catalepsy and motor disorder caused by haloperidol were measured by bar test and rotarod test, respectively.
FINDINGS: Haloperidol (1 mg/kg) significantly (p<0.004) resulted in catalepsy (170±17.25) and balance impairment (52±8). Pretreatment with testosterone for 7 days had a preventive effect on haloperidol-induced extrapyramidal disorders and improved catalepsy (55±8) (p<0.001) and balance impairment (178±8) (p<0.05) in mice, whereas co-administration of flutamide prevented the ameliorative effects of testosterone on extrapyramidal disorders.
CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that pretreatment with testosterone has a significant effect on the improvement of catalepsy
