• Dongmei Wang, Yuanhui Huo, Rémi Quirion, and Yanguo Hong.
• College of Life Sciences and Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology and Neuroscience, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350108, China.
• Peptides. 2014 Apr 1;54:67-70.

AbstractAdrenomedullin (AM) is a member of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) family and a pain-related peptide. We have shown that chronic administration of morphine (20 μg) upregulates AM activity contributing to morphine tolerance. The present study investigated if AM is involved in acute morphine-induced analgesia. Single intrathecal (i.t.) injection of morphine at a dose of 5 μg increased the tail-flick latency (TFL). This analgesic effect was potentiated by the co-administration of the AM receptor antagonist AM22-52 (5 and 10 nmol). Exposure of sensory ganglion culture to morphine increased AM content in the ganglia in concentration (0.33-10 μM)- and time (10-240 min)-dependent manners. However, treatment with morphine (3.3 μM) for 30-240 min did not alter AM mRNA levels in the cultured ganglia. Furthermore, exposure of ganglion cultures to morphine (3.3 μM) for 30-240, but not 10 min induced an increase in AM content in the culture medium. These results reveal that a single morphine treatment potentiates post-translational change and the release of AM in sensory ganglia masking morphine-induced analgesia. Thus, targeting AM and its receptors should be considered as a novel approach to improve the analgesic potency of opiates during their acute use.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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