Method of administration determines the effect of naloxone on pain.
The opiate antagonist, naloxone, produces dose-dependent biphasic changes in clinical pain. The mechanism of the analgesia produced by low dose naloxone is unknown. To study the analgesic effect of naloxone, we have used a programmable infusion pump, which eliminates placebo-induced endorphin-mediated analgesia, to administer different doses of naloxone. We report that use of machine infusion of naloxone exclusively produces analgesia. The implications of this finding to the mechanism of naloxone-induced analgesia are discussed.
D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D009270:Naloxone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014081:Tooth Extraction; D014095:Tooth, Impacted / Q000601:surgery
D000700:Analgesics; D009270:Naloxone