Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 448; p. 114441
• Main Authors: Bedard, Madigan L., Lord, Julia Sparks, Perez, Patric J., Bravo, Isabel M., Teklezghi, Adonay T., Tarantino, Lisa M., Diering, Graham H., McElligott, Zoe A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 25-06-2023
• Subjects: Analgesics, Opioid - pharmacology; Animals; COVID-19; Female; Humans; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Morphine; Morphine - adverse effects; Morphine Dependence - drug therapy; Naloxone - pharmacology; Naloxone - therapeutic use; Narcotic Antagonists - pharmacology; Narcotic Antagonists - therapeutic use; Narcotics - adverse effects; Opioid-Related Disorders - drug therapy; Opioids; Pandemics; PiezoSleep; Sleep; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - drug therapy; Withdrawal; Morphine; Sleep; Withdrawal; Opioids; PiezoSleep
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114441

Opioid misuse has dramatically increased over the last few decades resulting in many people suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD). The prevalence of opioid overdose has been driven by the development of new synthetic opioids, increased availability of prescription opioids, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Coinciding with increases in exposure to opioids, the United States has also observed increases in multiple Narcan (naloxone) administrations as a life-saving measures for respiratory depression, and, thus, consequently, naloxone-precipitated withdrawal. Sleep dysregulation is a main symptom of OUD and opioid withdrawal syndrome, and therefore, should be a key facet of animal models of OUD. Here we examine the effect of precipitated and spontaneous morphine withdrawal on sleep behaviors in C57BL/6 J mice. We find that morphine administration and withdrawal dysregulate sleep, but not equally across morphine exposure paradigms. Furthermore, many environmental triggers promote relapse to drug-seeking/taking behavior, and the stress of disrupted sleep may fall into that category. We find that sleep deprivation dysregulates sleep in mice that had previous opioid withdrawal experience. Our data suggest that the 3-day precipitated withdrawal paradigm has the most profound effects on opioid-induced sleep dysregulation and further validates the construct of this model for opioid dependence and OUD.
•Morphine withdrawal differentially dysregulates the sleep of male and female mice.•3-day precipitated withdrawal results in larger changes than spontaneous withdrawal.•Withdrawal history has a more profound impacts on sleep dysregulation in male mice vs female mice.