title: After GM1 ganglioside treatment of sensory neurons naloxone paradoxically prolongs the action potential but still antagonizes opioid inhibition.
abstract: Low (nanomolar) concentrations of opioid agonists prolong the calcium-dependent component of the action potential duration (APD) of many dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, whereas higher (micromolar) levels shorten the APD. Both effects are blocked by naloxone (1-10 nM). Opioid-induced APD prolongation appears to be mediated by excitatory opioid receptors that are positively coupled via a cholera toxin-A-sensitive Gs protein to adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent ion conductances, whereas opioid-induced APD shortening is mediated by inhibitory receptors linked via pertussis toxin-sensitive Gi/Go proteins. Cholera toxin-B subunit, which binds to GM1 ganglioside, also selectively blocks opioid-induced APD prolongation. After brief treatment with GM1 ganglioside, the opioid agonists, dynorphin (1-13) or morphine, prolong the APD at femtomolar vs. the usual nanomolar concentrations, whereas no significant alterations were observed in the sensitivity of these GM1-treated cells to opioid inhibitory effects elicited by higher opioid concentrations. The present study shows that the opioid antagonists, naloxone or diprenorphine (1-30 nM), did not alter the APD of naive DRG neurons. In contrast, after GM1 treatment (1 microM, greater than 10 min), both opioid antagonists (but not (+)naloxone) unexpectedly prolonged the APD of most of the GM1-treated cells, but still continued to antagonize opioid-induced APD shortening. These results suggest that the supersensitivity of GM1-treated DRG neurons to the excitatory effects of opioid agonists and antagonists is due primarily to a remarkably increased efficacy of excitatory Gs-coupled opioid receptor functions, similar to the opioid excitatory supersensitivity that we have recently observed in chronic opioid-treated DRG neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Crain
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004174:Diprenorphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D007700:Kinetics; D051379:Mice; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D004174:Diprenorphine; D009270:Naloxone; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside