Fry, JP; Herz, A; Zieglgänsberger, W; (1980) Demonstration of naloxone-precipitated opiate withdrawal on single neurons in the morphine-tolerant-dependent rat-brain. British Journal of Pharmacology , 68 (3) 585 - 592. 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1980.tb14574.x.

Text Fry_%2C Herz %26 Zieglgansberger 1980.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (1MB)

Abstract

1 A comparison has been made between the effects of microelectrophoretically applied naloxone on single neurones in the frontal cerebral cortex and the striatum of naive and of morphine-tolerant/dependent rats, anaesthetized with a mixture of α-chloralose and urethane. / 2 Specificity of the results obtained was evaluated by contrasting the effects of alternate applications of the (+)- and (−)-isomers of naloxone to the same neurones. / 3 In naive rats naloxone had predominantly no effect, only a few cells revealing non-specific depressant responses to the drug. / 4 In morphine-tolerant/dependent rats a higher proportion of neurones responded to naloxone; either with stereospecific excitatory responses, in which the activity evoked by l-glutamate or acetylcholine was increased, or with a non-specific inhibition, similar to that observed in naive animals. / 5 It is suggested that these excitatory responses to microelectrophoretically applied (−)-naloxone represent opiate withdrawal responses at the single neurone level and that they reflect a latent hyperexcitability of the postsynaptic membrane in the morphine-tolerant/dependent state.

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item