The fact that chronic administration of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs is required for optimal therapeutic response suggests that drug-induced adaptive neurochemical changes contribute to their mechanism of action. In the present study, the effects of chronic and acute haloperidol and olanzapine were compared on ketamine-induced activation of select brain regions, as reflected by altered regional 14 C-2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake. Rats were injected once daily with haloperidol (1 mg/kg) or olanzapine (10 mg/kg) for 21 days, and 20 to 24 h after the final injection was challenged with saline or ketamine (25 mg/kg). The washout period was used to test the effects of chronic drug treatment without the influence of acute drug administration. In vehicle-treated rats, ketamine increased 2-DG uptake in select brain regions, including medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, caudate putamen, stratum lacunosum-moleculare of hippocampus, and basolateral nucleus of the amygdala. This selective activation was attenuated by prior chronic treatment with both haloperidol and olanzapine. After acute treatment, olanzapine, but not haloperidol, blocked the ketamine-induced activation of 2-DG uptake. These data suggest that both haloperidol and olanzapine can induce adaptive responses that counteract effects of ketamine. However, the differences observed in the acute effects of the two drugs in the ketamine challenge model suggest that different mechanisms could be responsible for their common chronic action of attenuating ketamine-induced brain metabolic activation.Psychotomimetic effects of NMDA receptor antagonists in humans suggest that reduced NMDA receptor function may contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Antagonists of the NMDA receptor such as ketamine and phencyclidine (PCP) induce a spectrum of behavioral effects that mimic positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia (Luby et al., 1959;Cohen et al., 1962;Krystal et al., 1994;Malhotra et al., 1996;Lahti et al., 2001). Furthermore, in stabilized schizophrenic patients, ketamine can precipitate positive symptoms that are remarkably similar to those experienced during active phases of the patient's illness (Lahti et al., 1995a,b;Malhotra et al., 1997). The human experience with NMDA antagonists provides the foundation for the NMDA receptor hypofunction hypothesis of schizophrenia (Javitt and Zukin, 1991;Olney and Farber, 1995;Coyle, 1996).Preclinical studies of the effects of antipsychotic drugs in paradigms involving challenge with NMDA receptor antagonists provide support for the NMDA receptor hypofunction hypothesis. Extensive preclinical data demonstrate differential effects of acutely administered "typical" antipsychotics and "atypical" antipsychotic drugs on responses to NMDA antagonists. Although there is no universal consensus on precise definitions for typical and atypical antipsychotics, the typical drugs are generally considered those whose primary mechanism is D2 dopamine blockade (e.g., haloperidol, chlorproma...