title: Plasma from patients with the pruritus of cholestasis induces opioid receptor-mediated scratching in monkeys.
abstract: The medullary dorsal horn is a site of action of opiates in producing facial scratching. Extracts of plasma (0.4 microliter) from 4 patients with the pruritus of cholestasis induced facial scratching when microinjected into the medullary dorsal horn of monkeys. This extract-induced scratching could be abolished or prevented by administering the opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone. Neither saline nor an extract of plasma from a nonpruritic cholestatic patient induced scratching when similarly administered. We infer that plasma of patients with the pruritus of cholestasis contains a factor which induces pruritus by a central opioid receptor-mediated mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Liver Diseases Section, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Bergasa
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vergalla
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011537:Pruritus / Q000097:blood*; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D011957:Receptors, Opioid