Analgesic doses of epidural morphine do not affect local glucose utilization in the spinal cord in rats.
The possibility of association between changes in spinal cord metabolism and changes in spinal cord neuronal activity by injection of morphine into the epidural space in amounts adequate to produce analgesia was examined. Fourteen Wistar rats were equally divided into two groups: a morphine group (epidural, 15 micrograms) and a control group (saline). Using the 2-[14C] deoxyglucose method, glucose utilization was measured in the spinal cord and in the brain, including structures related to pain modulation, in the presence and in the absence of analgesia produced by epidural morphine as confirmed by the hot plate test. Glucose utilization was shown to be similar in the spinal cord and in the brain in both groups of animals. The results suggest that analgesic doses of epidural morphine do not affect neuronal activity of the spinal cord by changing spinal cord carbohydrate metabolism.
Kuroda
Y
Y
Department of Anesthesiology-Resuscitology, Yamaguchi University Hospital, Japan.
Nakakimura
K
K
Sakabe
T
T
Maekawa
T
T
Takeshita
H
H
D000698:Analgesia; D000818:Animals; D005283:Fentanyl; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D007268:Injections, Epidural; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*
D009020:Morphine; D005947:Glucose; D005283:Fentanyl