Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0344307 (analgesia)
 28,200 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

ATP-sensitive K+ (K(ATP)) channels were reported to be involved in morphine analgesia in vivo. The present study, using patch-clamp technique in brain slices of neonatal (P12-P16) and adult rats, investigated cellular actions of K(ATP) channel ligands and their interactions with morphine in the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PAG), a crucial site for morphine analgesia. In neonatal PAG neurons, morphine depressed evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in almost all tested neurons and elicited an inwardly rectifying K+ current in one-third of tested neurons. Glibenclamide (1-10 microM), a K(ATP) channel blocker, did not affect the membrane current or synaptic current per se but also failed to affect the effects of morphine. No outward current was elicited upon using microelectrodes containing ATP-free internal solution. In adult neurons, morphine, at the concentration up to 300 microM, failed to activate K+ current in all 25 neurons tested but depressed IPSCs to a comparable extent as that in neonatal neurons. Glibenclamide also failed to alter the effect of morphine in adult neurons. The openers of K(ATP) channels, lemakalim (10-30 microM) and diazoxide (10-500 microM), unlike morphine, did not increase membrane currents in both neonatal and adult neurons. However, diazoxide induced a glibenclamide-sensitive outward current in hippocampal CA1 neurons. It is concluded that K(ATP) channels display little functional role per se and might not be involved in effects of morphine in the ventrolateral PAG. The correlation between the insensitivity in K+ channel activation and the less antinociceptive response to morphine in adults was discussed.
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PMID:ATP-sensitive K+ channels and cellular actions of morphine in periaqueductal gray slices of neonatal and adult rats. 1145 10

Considering the importance of a deeper understanding of the effect throughout life of opioid analgesia at birth, our objective was to determine whether morphine administration in early life, once a day for 7 days in 8-day-old rats, alters the nociceptive response over the short (P16), medium (P30), and long term (P60) and to evaluate which system is involved in the altered nociceptive response. The nociceptive responses were assessed by the formalin test, and the behavior analyzed was the total time spent in biting and flicking of the formalin-injected hindpaw, recorded during the first 5 min (phase I) and from 15-30 min (phase II). The morphine group showed no change in nociceptive response at P16, but at P30 and P60, the nociceptive response was increased in phase I, and in both phases, respectively. At P30 and P60, the animals received a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (indomethacin) or NMDA receptor antagonist (ketamine) 30 min before the formalin test. The increase in the nociceptive response was completely reversed by ketamine, and partially by indomethacin. These results indicate that early morphine exposure causes an increase in the nociceptive response in adult life. It is possible that this lower nociception threshold is due to neuroadaptations in nociceptive circuits, such as the glutamatergic system. Thus, this work demonstrates the importance of evaluating clinical consequences related to early opioid administration and suggests a need for a novel design of agents that may counteract opiate-induced neuroplastic changes.
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PMID:Morphine exposure in early life increases nociceptive behavior in a rat formalin tonic pain model in adult life. 2097 97