Long-lasting increased pain sensitivity in rat following exposure to heroin for the first time
Acute dependence, defined as a precipitation of somatic signs by an antagonist, may occur after a single administration of an opiate drug. Because hyperalgesia is a consistent sign of the withdrawal syndrome, we tested the effectiveness of heroin, an opiate used by addicts, to induce pain facilitati...
Saved in:
Published in | The European journal of neuroscience Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 782 - 785 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Science, Ltd
01.02.1998
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Acute dependence, defined as a precipitation of somatic signs by an antagonist, may occur after a single administration of an opiate drug. Because hyperalgesia is a consistent sign of the withdrawal syndrome, we tested the effectiveness of heroin, an opiate used by addicts, to induce pain facilitation even after a first exposure to the drug. In opiate‐naive rats, subcutaneous injection of heroin induced analgesia followed by allodynia, a decrease in pain threshold. This latter phenomenon was observed in the absence of noxious stimuli and lasted several days. An N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, MK‐801 prevented such long‐lasting allodynia. These results suggest that allodynia is an early sign reflecting neural plasticity associated with the development of dependence. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ArticleID:EJN083 ark:/67375/WNG-2XWKVZT1-0 istex:A65733F79DEF5BE924388D850EAFC28413032D28 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0953-816X 1460-9568 |
DOI: | 10.1046/j.1460-9568.1998.00083.x |