Dictionary of Biological Psychology
(from Greek, kata: down, lepsis: taking) Catalepsy is a state of muscular RIGIDITY. It is not a widely used term, though in the past it has been used to describe the immobility present in PARKINSON’S DISEASE.
It has been investigated in animals: very large doses of drugs that block dopamine receptors (see DI– D5 DOPAMINE RECEPTORS) induce catalepsy in rats. This was usually measured by placing the rat’s forepaws on a raised bar and measuring the time taken for it to step down, or by placing the rat on a grid perpendicular to the laboratory bench and looking again for climb down latency. Cataleptic rats maintain the positions in which they are put. Such studies did not apparently reveal a great deal about the functions of dopamine, or the brain structures it is associated with, and so have been largely abandoned.
See also: cataplexy; catatonia
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