The Effects of Developmental Antipsychotics on Impulse Control

Abstract

Antipsychotic medications are prescribed more frequently for psychiatric disorders in children. However, little is known about the impact of antipsychotics on brain development. Since antipsychotics target brain regions responsible for impulse control, we used a delayed discounting task to measure impulsivity in adult rats treated with the antipsychotic, risperidone, early in life. Rats were administered the vehicle or the antipsychotic drug (3.0 mg/kg) daily for four weeks beginning on postnatal day 14. Adult rats that received risperidone demonstrated motivation levels similar to control rats. Continued work with this task will assess preferences for small, immediate rewards versus large, delayed rewards.