title: Autoradiographic distribution of mu, delta and kappa opioid binding sites in the superficial dorsal horn, over the rostrocaudal axis of the rat spinal cord.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to use [3H]DAMGO, [3H]DTLET and [3H]EKC in the presence of 100 nM DAMGO and 100 nM DTLET, combined with a quantitative autoradiography to analyse the different proportions and the rostrocaudal distribution of mu, delta and kappa opioid binding sites in the superficial layers (laminae I and II) of the cervical (C6-C8), thoracic (T5-T7), lumbar (L3-L5) and sacral (S2-S3) dorsal horn of the rat. The proportions of the three main types of opioid binding sites, assessed by autoradiography in laminae I and II, were found homogeneous at each segmental level considered: 70.4-74.3%, 18.4-20.3% and 7.3-9.5% for mu, delta, kappa sites, respectively. The physiological relevance of these data is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche de Neurophysiologie Pharmacologique (INSERM, Unité 161) and Laboratoire de Physiopharmacologie de la Douleur (EPHE), Paris, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Besse
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lombard
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Besson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D020875:Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)-; D004745:Enkephalins / Q000378:metabolism; D016314:Ethylketocyclazocine / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D017465:Receptors, Opioid, delta; D017473:Receptors, Opioid, kappa; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014316:Tritium
chemical_list: D004745:Enkephalins; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011957:Receptors, Opioid; D017465:Receptors, Opioid, delta; D017473:Receptors, Opioid, kappa; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu; D014316:Tritium; D020875:Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)-; D016314:Ethylketocyclazocine; C037653:deltakephalin