title: Differential cross-tolerance between intrathecal morphine and sufentanil in the rat.
abstract: By means of a subcutaneously implanted osmotic pump, groups of rats received a constant-rate (1 microliter/h), 7-day intrathecal infusion of saline or one of two mu opioid agonists: sufentanil (0.6 nmol/h) or morphine (20 nmol/h). These concentrations of morphine and sufentanil yielded a comparable near maximal hot-plate response latency on day 1 of the infusion. On day 7, the magnitude of tolerance was assessed in each group by establishing intrathecal dose-response curves and ED50 values for sufentanil and morphine given as a bolus injection. Each infused animal was used for a single bolus injection. In all cases, infusion with the opioid resulted in a rightward shift (increase in ED50) for both morphine and sufentanil as compared to saline-infused animals. The magnitude of the shift, however, was different for the two drugs. Thus in morphine-infused rats, the morphine ED50 increased as compared to saline-infused animals by a factor of 44, whereas the sufentanil ED50 shifted by a factor of 10. In sufentanil-infused animals, the respective shifts in the morphine and sufentanil ED50 values were increased by a factor of 9 and 3, respectively. Thus, a significantly greater shift as compared to saline-infused animals was observed in morphine-infused than in sufentanil-infused animals. Conversely, regardless of the opioid to which the animal was exposed, morphine-tested animals showed a greater rightward shift than did sufentanil-tested animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sosnowski
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Yaksh
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D004361:Drug Tolerance / Q000502:physiology; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015918:Infusion Pumps, Implantable; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000187:drug effects; D017409:Sufentanil
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D011957:Receptors, Opioid; D009020:Morphine; D017409:Sufentanil; D005283:Fentanyl