Postoperative demand for analgesics in relation to individual levels of endorphins and substance P in cerebrospinal fluid.
Fourteen adult patients were allowed to self-administer small intravenous doses of pethidine to relieve postoperative pain. Thirteen of the patients obtained subjectively satisfactory analgesia while establishing steady-state levels of pethidine in plasma. The individual demand for pethidine was related to individual levels of fraction I endorphins and substance P-like immunoreactivity in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). There was a significant and inverse relationship between preoperative fraction I concentrations in CSF and the individual mean pethidine concentrations in plasma (P less than 0.05) and CSF (P less than 0.02) during self-administration. In the 24 h period encompassing surgery and postoperative self-administered analgesia, substance P decreased in 7 patients with calculated CSF pethidine great than 200 ng/ml, but remained virtually unchanged in 7 patients with calculated CSF pethidine less than 200 ng/ml. The results suggest a role for endorphins in the modulation of acute pain and are compatible with experimental evidence for an inhibitory effect of opiates on substance P release.
D000328:Adult; D004723:Endorphins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008614:Meperidine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012646:Self Administration; D013373:Substance P / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
D004723:Endorphins; D013373:Substance P; D008614:Meperidine