Abstract
We examined the effect of acute and chronic opioid treatment on synaptic transmission and µ-opioid receptor (MOR) endocytosis in cultures of naïve rat hippocampal neurons. Opioid agonists that activate MOR inhibited synaptic transmission at inhibitory but not excitatory autapses. [D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]-enkephalin (DAMGO), morphine, and methadone were all effective at blocking inhibitory transmission. These same drugs also reduced the amplitude of voltage-dependent Ca2+ currents in inhibitory but not excitatory neurons. Chronic treatment with all three opioids reduced the subsequent effects of a challenge with either the same drug or one of the others in individual autaptic neurons. Chronic treatment with DAMGO or methadone produced internalization of enhanced yellow fluorescent protein-tagged MOR expressed in hippocampal neurons within hours, whereas morphine produced internalization much more slowly, even when accompanied by overexpression of beta -arrestin-2. We conclude that DAMGO, methadone, and morphine all produce tolerance in single hippocampal neurons. Morphine-induced tolerance does not necessarily seem to involve receptor endocytosis.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 55-64 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Molecular Pharmacology |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- pharmacology
- biomedicine
- opiates
- physiology