Chronic morphine exposure affects the visual response properties of V1 neurons in cat.
Chronic opiate exposure leads to maladaptive changes in brain function. In view of the localization of opiate receptors in mammalian visual system, chronic opiate exposure is likely to affect the visual responses properties of V1 neurons. Using in vivo single-unit recording, we here showed that chronic morphine treatment resulted in the functional abnormality of primary visual cortical cells. When compared with saline-treated (as control) cats, cortical neurons in morphine-treated cats exhibited higher spontaneous activity, lower signal-to-noise ratios and weaker orientation and direction selectivity. However, re-exposure with morphine could significantly improve the function of V1 neurons in morphine-treated cats. These findings demonstrated that chronic morphine treatment could significantly degrade the response properties of V1 neurons and may lead to a function dependence on morphine in visual cortical cells.
He
Lihua
L
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, P.R. China.
Li
Xiangrui
X
Hua
Tianmiao
T
Bao
Pinglei
P
Ma
Rui
R
Zhou
Yifeng
Y
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009294:Narcotics / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000187:drug effects*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects
D009294:Narcotics; D009020:Morphine