Pulp and oils (fruit extract) from Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L. spp. Turkestanica) (HRL) seeds and berries have been traditionally used in the treatment of different clinical and psychotic disorders and have significant implication in contemporary medicinal therapy. Schizophrenia is a chronic severe mental illness that affects approximately 1% of the population. Although the first generation of antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine and haloperidol are widely prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia,their beneficial effects are accompanied by extrapyramidal side effects (EPS). The present study was designed to investigate
the effects of oral supplementation of HRL fruit extract (HRL-FE) on behavioral deficits and changes in brain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) metabolism in rats administered with haloperidol repeatedly (two times a day at 09:00-09:30 A.M. and 05:00-05:30 P.M. at dose of 3.0 mg/kg body weight for two weeks. Results revealed that after two weeks of oral administration of HRL-FE (4.0 mg/kg body weight), rats exhibited significant (p<0.01) increases in locomotor activity in home cages and exploratory activity in open field arena. Repeated haloperidol treatment significantly (p<0.01) decreased brain tryptophan (TRP) and 5-HT and
these decreases were reversed by 4.0 mg/kg body weight HRL-FE. These data suggest that HRL-FE plays a modifying role against the haloperidol induced behavioral deficits and could further extend as a nutritive therapy to conventional antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia.