Walker EA. In vivo pharmacological resultant analysis reveals noncompetitive interactions between opioid antagonists in the rat tail-withdrawal assay.
Br J Pharmacol 2006;
149:1071-82. [PMID:
17075571 PMCID:
PMC2014630 DOI:
10.1038/sj.bjp.0706946]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Pharmacological resultant analysis is a technique that can detect secondary effects of competitive antagonists in vitro. The utility of pharmacological resultant analysis as a potential tool for the investigation of antagonist interactions in vivo was examined in the present study using two opioid antagonists, naltrexone and CTAP.
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
Using the experimental design of pharmacological resultant analysis, the well-characterized opioid antagonist naltrexone was examined in the presence of multiple doses of CTAP to block the antinociceptive effects of morphine in the rat warm-water (55(o)C), tail-withdrawal assay.
KEY RESULTS
Alone, all doses of naltrexone, CTAP, and CTOP examined blocked the antinociceptive effects of morphine. In the presence of fixed doses of 1 or 10 microg CTAP, increasing doses of naltrexone produced dose-dependent shifts to the right in the morphine dose-response curve. However, a lower dose of naltrexone in combination with 1 or 10 mug CTAP failed to alter the morphine dose-response curve. In the presence of a fixed dose of 0.1 mg kg(-1) naltrexone, CTAP doses produced irregular shifts to the right in the morphine dose-response curves.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Resultant analysis was applied and an apparent pK(C) value for CTAP was found to be one log unit higher than the apparent pA(2) value for CTAP, evidence that CTAP may have secondary actions or that a signal transducer function may be altered by the combinations of these antagonists. Taken together, these data suggest pharmacological resultant analysis can reveal novel interactions between antagonists in vivo.
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