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Vol. 293, Issue 3, 946-951, June 2000
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University
of Medical Sciences (A.R.D.); and Department of Pharmacology, School of
Medicine, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (H.R., M.J.,
F.R., K.J., A.A.), Tehran, Iran
The rate and degree of subsensitivity development to morphine
(µ-opioid receptor, preferred, but not selective agonist) and U50488H
(highly selective
-opioid receptor agonist) were assessed in vitro
on guinea pig ileum (GPI) of cholestatic animals 2, 5, and 7 days after
bile duct ligation. In addition to this phenomenon of morphine, the
effects of U50488H and SNC 80 (highly selective
-opioid receptor
agonist) were studied in vitro on mice vas deferens (MVD) of
cholestatic animals 2, 5, 7, 10, and 15 days after bile duct ligation.
The IC50 for each compound was determined in these preparations. The ratio of the IC50 in bile duct-ligated
animals to sham and control animals provides a quantitative index for the degree of subsensitivity development to each agonist. For any given
time, the highest degree of subsensitivity to morphine was observed in
GPI of cholestatic animals, whereas in MVD obtained from the
cholestatic animals, the highest degree of subsensitivity developed to
inhibitory effect of SNC 80. The subsensitivity development in
cholestatic animals was time dependent; in GPI the maximum subsensitivity developed after 7 days of the operation, whereas the
maximum subsensitivity in MVD developed 15 days after bile duct
ligation. Moreover, subsensitivity to exogenous acetylcholine and
norepinephrine in GPI and MVD, respectively, did not develop in the
presence of subsensitivity to opioids in cholestatic animals. Significant accumulation of endogenous opioids in plasma of cholestatic animals has been shown in several studies and this may account for a
significant development of subsensitivity to inhibitory effects of
opioid agonists.