Opiate-induced turning in rats after injection into the ventral tegmental area

Differential Effects of a Novel Opioid Ligand UTA1003 on Antinociceptive Tolerance and Motor Behaviour

Analgesic tolerance is a major problem in the clinic for the maintenance of opioid-induced long-term pain relief. Opioids with mixed activity on multiple opioid receptors promise reduced antinociceptive tolerance in preclinical studies, but these compounds typically show poor bioavailability upon oral, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, or intravenous administration. We designed UTA1003 as a novel opioid that acts as a mu (MOP) and kappa (KOP) opioid receptor agonist and a partial agonist for delta (DOP) opioid receptor. In the present study, its antinociceptive effects, as well as its effects on antinociceptive tolerance and motor behaviour, were investigated in male rats. Acute antinociception was measured before (basal) and at different time points after subcutaneous injection of UTA1003 or morphine using the tail flick and hot plate assays. Various motor behavioural activities, including horizontal locomotion, rearing, and turning, were automatically measured in an open-field arena. The antinociceptive and behavioural effects of repeated administration of UTA1003 and morphine were determined over eight days. UTA1003 induced mild antinociceptive effects after acute administration but induced no tolerance after repeated treatment. Importantly, UTA1003 co-treatment with morphine prevented antinociceptive tolerance compared to morphine alone. UTA1003 showed less motor suppression than morphine in both acute and sub-chronic treatment regimens, while it did not affect morphine-induced motor suppression or hyper-excitation. Based on these activities, we speculate that UTA1003 crosses the blood-brain barrier after subcutaneous administration and, therefore, could be developed as a lead molecule to avoid opioid-induced antinociceptive tolerance and motor suppression. Further structural modifications to improve its antinociceptive effects, toxicity profile, and ADME parameters are nevertheless required.

Electroencephalographic and behavioral assessment of intracerebroventricular somatostatin and a substance P analogue

Chronically implanted rats were injected either with somatostatin (SST) lumbar intrathecally (i.t.) (100 micrograms, n = 5), into the fourth ventricle (3 micrograms, n = 5; 10 micrograms, n = 6; 30 micrograms, n = 5) or into the lateral ventricle (10 micrograms, n = 6; 30 micrograms, n = 6), or received an injection of the substance P (SP) analogue, [D-Pro2, D-Trp7,9]SP into the fourth ventricle (0.3 micrograms, n = 2; 1 micrograms, n = 4; 3 micrograms, n = 4; 10 micrograms, n = 1) or lateral ventricle (3 micrograms, n = 3). A dose-dependent EEG depressant effect was observed following fourth and lateral ventricular injections of SST and of the SP analogue. Acute death due to respiratory depression was observed following i.t. and fourth ventricular injection of SST, and fourth ventricular injection of the SP analogue. Prominent motor behavior (barrel rotation, circling, cranial stereotypies) was observed, without signs of EEG seizure activity, following intraventricular injection of both drugs. Present findings indicate neurotoxic effects of SST and SP analogue at the cerebral level.

Conditioning of rotational behavior after the administration of a single dose of apomorphine in rats with unilateral denervation of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway: relevance to drug addiction

Our aim is to study the relationship of drug activation of the dopamine neurotransmission system and the conditioning of environmental stimuli present at the time of drug administration. We injected a single dose of apomorphine (0.05 mg/kg SC) in rats with the nigrostriatal dopamine pathways unilaterally denervated with 6-hydroxydopamine, which generates rotational behavior contralateral to the lesioned hemisphere. We observed rotational behavior without apomorphine administration when animals were reexposed at different time intervals to the same environment in which they performed turning behavior. The present findings show that this rotational behavior can be conditioned to environmental stimuli in a strong and long-lasting way. In light of the relationship between opioids and the dopaminergic system, similar conditioning could take place in the learning processes implicated in drug addiction.

Endogenous opiates: 1986

This is the ninth installment of our annual review of research involving the endogenous opiate peptides. It is restricted to the non-analgesic and behavioral studies of the opiate peptides published in 1986. The specific topics this year include stress; tolerance and dependence; eating; drinking; gastrointestinal, renal, and hepatic processes; mental illness; learning, memory, and reward; cardiovascular responses; respiration and thermoregulation; seizures and other neurological disorders; activity; sex, pregnancy, and development; and some other behaviors.