Chronic ethanol changes opiate receptor function in rat striatum.
Ethanol produces supersensitivity of striatal delta-opiate receptor sites labeled by [3H]DADLE and [3H]etorphine. The impairment may be ascribed to the diminished enkephalin release detected in rat striatum after chronic ethanol consumption. On the contrary, a lower affinity of striatal mu-opiate receptors results after same ethanol exposure. In fact, the Kd values of [3H]Met-enkephalin and [3H]DHM are enhanced when measured in striata of ethanol-dependent rats. The diverse sensitivity of the various classes of opiate receptors to ethanol may be ascribed to different ethanol effects on enkephalinergic transmission.
D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D004090:Dihydromorphine / Q000378:metabolism; D004743:Enkephalin, Leucine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D016308:Enkephalin, Leucine-2-Alanine; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005048:Etorphine / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
D011957:Receptors, Opioid; D000431:Ethanol; D005048:Etorphine; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine; D004743:Enkephalin, Leucine; D016308:Enkephalin, Leucine-2-Alanine; D004090:Dihydromorphine