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)

The role of endocrine factors on opioid analgesia (antinociception) and opioid receptors was studied in male and female Swiss-Webster mice. Morphine was more potent in male than in female mice, although this difference appears to be due to greater availability of morphine to the brain in males. Saturation binding studies indicated that the density and affinity of brain mu- and delta-opioid binding sites were equivalent in males and females. Males and females were implanted SC with naltrexone (NTX) or placebo pellets for 8 days, and then the pellets were removed. This treatment increased the density of mu and delta binding sites in brain and increased the potency of morphine for both sexes, although the increase in antinociceptive effects for males was greater than for females. Adrenalectomy (ADX) in male mice increased the potency of morphine and methadone but did not alter the brain levels of either drug. ADX did not alter brain opioid binding of either mu or delta ligands. When male ADX and control mice were treated with NTX, the potency of morphine and brain opioid binding sites were increased equivalently in both groups. Gonadectomy (GDX) in male mice tended to decrease morphine potency, although this was not found to be a very reliable effect. When male GDX and control mice were implanted with NTX, brain opioid binding was increased similarly in both groups, although morphine potency was increased less in GDX mice. Overall, these studies show that sex differences and hormones of the adrenals and gonads in male mice do not alter brain opioid receptors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Effect of adrenal and sex hormones on opioid analgesia and opioid receptor regulation. 132 57

Effects of adrenalectomy (ADX) on analgesic potency and morphine (MOR) content after SC administration of 3.5 or 7 mg/kg of MOR, and effects of prednisolone (PRED) on the ADX-induced effects were studied. ADX significantly potentiated MOR analgesia at both MOR doses, and PRED reversed the ADX-induced potentiation of MOR analgesia, ADX did not affect MOR content in brain and plasma after 3.5 mg/kg MOR, but significantly increased MOR content in brain and plasma after 7 mg/kg MOR, and PRED reversed the ADX-induced increase in the MOR content. Although the analgesic potency of 3.5 mg/kg MOR in ADX group was equipotent with those of 7 mg/kg MOR in sham-operated and PRED-treated ADX groups, MOR content in the former group was significantly lower than those in the latter two groups. These results suggest that ADX potentiates MOR analgesia through both mechanisms of the increased MOR content and the increased sensitivity to MOR, and that the lack of glucocorticoids participates in both of these ADX-induced effects.
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PMID:Adrenalectomy-induced potentiation of morphine analgesia: reversal by prednisolone. 209 75

To elucidate the mechanism for the suppression by concurrent footshock (FS) exposure of the development of morphine tolerance, the effect of adrenalectomy and a possible participation of glucocorticoids in the mechanism were examined. The analgesic effect of morphine was potentiated in adrenalectomized (ADX) mice, and further enhancement of the effect was shown by the simultaneous exposure to FS (2 mA, 0.2 Hz, 1 sec duration for 15 min) stress, while no such effects were observed in sham-operated (Sham) animals. Daily morphine treatment developed tolerance in Sham and ADX mice. The combined treatment with FS stress suppressed the development of morphine tolerance in Sham mice, whereas such suppression was abolished by adrenalectomy. The suppression of tolerance development was restored in ADX mice by supplement of prednisolone. In contrast to FS stress which produces analgesia through an opioid receptor, forced swimming stress which exerts analgesia through a non-opioid mechanism did not affect the development of morphine tolerance in both Sham and ADX mice. Thus, an opioid mediated stress, FS, could prevent the development of morphine tolerance, and adrenal glucocorticoids play an essential role in the mechanism.
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PMID:Role of adrenal glucocorticoids in the blockade of the development of analgesic tolerance to morphine by footshock stress exposure in mice. 262 90

The 100 inescapable tail-shock paradigm produces three sequential analgesic states as the number of shocks increases: an early opioid analgesia (after 2 shocks) that is attenuated by systemic naltrexone, a middle analgesia (after 5-40 shocks) that is unaffected by systemic naltrexone, and a late opioid analgesia (after 80-100 shocks) that is attenuated by systemic naltrexone. In order to determine whether the absence of adrenal hormones would affect any of these analgesias, we tested adrenalectomized (ADX) versus sham-operated control rats 2 weeks post-surgery. Pain threshold was assessed using the tail-flick (TF) test. ADX attenuated both the early (2 shock) and late (80-100 shock) opiate analgesias and failed to reduce the naltrexone-insensitive analgesia after 5-40 shocks. We demonstrated that a loss of adrenomedullary catecholamines does not underlie the ADX-induced attenuation of opioid analgesia since sympathetic blockade using systemic chlorisondamine (6 mg/kg) failed to reduce analgesia at any point in the shock session. It was further shown that stress levels of adrenal hormones are not critical since (a) analgesia was unaffected when animals were tested 48 h after ADX, (b) 2 shocks do not produce a surge in corticosterone (CORT) over and above levels observed in animals restrained and TF tested in preparation for shock, and (c) basal CORT replacement in drinking water fully restored analgesia in ADX rats. These experiments demonstrate that basal CORT, rather than adrenomedullary substances, is critical to the expression of analgesia. The function of CORT here is not linked to a shock-induced surge of the steroid. CORT appears to play a permissive role in the expression of analgesia. Potential effects of the absence of corticosteroids on neurotransmitter biosynthesis important in analgesia production are discussed.
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PMID:A permissive role of corticosterone in an opioid form of stress-induced analgesia: blockade of opiate analgesia is not due to stress-induced hormone release. 785 Apr 67

Possible contributions of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis to the development of adjuvant-induced arthritis and therapeutic actions of the prototypical kappa-opioid agonist PNU-50,488H (PNU-50) were studied in DA rats. Paw edema, nociception, histological and radiological joint damage, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha release by peritoneal macrophages were measured in adrenalectomized (ADX) and sham-operated (SHO) arthritic animals (drug-treated and untreated groups). Disease developed earlier in ADX rats (paw edema was first apparent 11 days postadjuvant compared with day 13 in SHO animals) and remained more severe in that group. Twice-daily PNU-50 treatment completely prevented the development of edema in the SHO group but was effective in the ADX animals only on day 18. PNU-50 substantially reduced the pooled severity index (combined quantitative edema, histological and radiological assessments) at day 18 in both SHO and ADX rats and to an equal extent. During disease development, the paws of SHO, but not ADX, rats became hyperalgesic; paradoxically, ADX animals were hyperalgesic during PNU-50 treatment, but the drug produced analgesia in SHO animals. Compared with cells harvested from healthy animals, macrophages from arthritic rats released about twice as much tumor necrosis factor-alpha after lipopolysaccharide stimulation. It was concluded that the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis influences the development of adjuvant arthritis and plays a partial role in the therapeutic action of the kappa-agonist PNU-50.
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PMID:The importance of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis to the anti-inflammatory actions of the kappa-opioid agonist PNU-50,488H in rats with adjuvant arthritis. 1094 69

It has been shown that nifedipine, as a calcium channel blocker can potentiate the antinociceptive effect of morphine; however, the role of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis on this action has not been elucidated. We examined the effect of nifedipine on morphine-induced analgesia in intact and adrenalectomized (ADX) rats and on HPA activity induced by morphine. To determine the effect of nifedipine on morphine analgesia, nifedipine (2 mg/kg i.p.) that had no antinociceptive effect, was injected concomitant with sub-effective dose of morphine (1 and 2 mg/kg). The tail-flick test was used to assess the nociceptive threshold, before and 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 180 min after drug administration. Our results showed that, nifedipine could potentiate the antinociceptive effect of morphine and this effect of nifedipine in ADX was greater than sham operated rats which, was reversed by corticosterone replacement. Nifedipine has an inhibitory effect on morphine -induced corticosterone secretion. Thus, the data indicate that the mechanism underlying the potentiation of morphine analgesia by nifedipine involves mediation, at least in part, by attenuating the effect of morphine on HPA axis.
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PMID:Nifedipine potentiates antinociceptive effects of morphine in rats by decreasing hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis activity. 1611 39

There are some reports indicating that adrenalectomy significantly potentiates morphine-induced analgesia. Since G-protein subunits have an important role in morphine effects at the cellular level and the exact mechanism(s) of adrenalectomy-induced morphine sensitization has not yet been clarified, the present study was designed to determine the changes in the levels of Galphai/o, Galphas, Gbeta mRNA involved in this phenomenon. All experiments were carried out on male Wistar rats. The tail-flick test was used to assess the nociceptive threshold and corticosterone levels were measured by radioimmunoassay as a marker of HPA function. The dorsal half of the lumbar spinal cord was assayed for the expression of G-protein subunits using semiquantitative PCR normalized to beta-actin gene expression. Results showed that morphine not only in 3 mg/kg, but also in a sub-effective dose (2 mg/kg) could affect the nociceptive threshold and induce an analgesic response in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats while 2 mg/kg morphine did not demonstrate analgesic properties in sham-operated animals. These effects were reversed with corticosterone replacement. Morphine increased plasma corticosterone concentration in a dose-dependent manner in sham-operated rats. Following adrenalectomy a significant increase in the mRNA levels of Galphai/o (79%) and Gbeta (96%) was observed in the dorsal portion of the lumbar spinal cord. In contrast, no significant changes were observed in the mRNA level of Galphas. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the levels of the cellular components involved in morphine analgesia significantly increase in ADX animals. This may be at least partly responsible for adrenalectomy-induced morphine sensitization.
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PMID:Post-adrenalectomy changes in the gene expression of specific G-protein subunits involved in morphine sensitization. 1823 77