Preliminary study of the effects of morphine treatment on opioid receptor gene expression in brain structures of the female rat

Opioid receptors play an important role in female physiology. They modulate directly and indirectly neuroendocrine phenomena that influence pregnancy maintenance, pain threshold, parturition, lactation, maternal behavior, rewarding and addiction. Thus understanding the gene expression levels of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Neuroscience Vol. 141; no. 3; pp. 1225 - 1231
Main Authors:	Teodorov, E., Modena, C.C., Sukikara, M.H., Felicio, L.F.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2006 Elsevier
Subjects:	Analgesics Analysis of Variance Animals Biological and medical sciences Brain - drug effects Dose-Response Relationship, Drug Drug Administration Schedule Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology gene expression Gene Expression - drug effects Medical sciences Morphine - administration & dosage Narcotics - pharmacology Neuropharmacology opioidergic stimulation opioids PAG peptides Pharmacology. Drug treatments Rats Rats, Wistar Receptors, Opioid - genetics Receptors, Opioid - metabolism Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods RNA, Messenger - metabolism Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs OVX opioidergic stimulation PAG peptides GPCR gene expression PCR opioids Rat Opioid receptor Rodentia Central nervous system Opiates Morphine Narcotic analgesic Gene expression Opioid peptide Encephalon Vertebrata Mammalia Animal Female
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Summary:	Opioid receptors play an important role in female physiology. They modulate directly and indirectly neuroendocrine phenomena that influence pregnancy maintenance, pain threshold, parturition, lactation, maternal behavior, rewarding and addiction. Thus understanding the gene expression levels of the three major opioid receptors, μ, δ and κ in different brain regions is essential for investigating dynamic mechanisms of opioidergic transmission. Adult virgin female rats were treated acutely with morphine sulfate (3.5 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg s.c.) or chronically for 5 days (3.5 mg/kg). Rats were killed 1 h after the last injection. In the acute treatment, expression levels for the encoded μ-opioid receptor Oprm1, as detected by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, were significantly decreased in the periaqueductal gray. In chronic treatment, both Oprk1 and Oprm1 expression levels, that encoded κ and μ-opioid receptor respectively, showed significant decreases in the periaqueductal gray and striatum. Regional changes in opioid receptor gene expression levels might reflect highly specialized roles for these receptors with possible functional meaning for the plasticity of the opioidergic transmission.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0306-4522 1873-7544
DOI:	10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.04.071