Differential effects of morphine and cocaine on locomotor activity and sensitization in μ-opioid receptor knockout mice

Ji Hoon Yoo, Eun Mi Yang, Seok Yong Lee, Horace H. Loh, Ing K. Ho, Choon Gon Jang

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47 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that the μ-opioid receptors play a crucial role in locomotor activity and sensitization to cocaine and morphine in wild-type and μ-opioid receptor knockout mice. Our results show that morphine and cocaine increased locomotor activity in wild-type mice, but failed to increase locomotor activity in μ-opioid receptor knockout mice, suggesting a contribution of μ-opioid receptor. Repeated morphine treatment induced sensitization in wild-type mice, but this was not observed in μ-opioid receptor knockout mice. In contrast repeated cocaine treatment produced sensitization in μ-opioid receptor knockout mice, but not in wild-type mice on day 6. However, the sensitization to cocaine was observed in μ-opioid receptor knockout and wild-type mice on day 12. These results suggest that the expression of μ-opioid receptor may contribute to locomotor sensitization induced by morphine, but that μ-opioid receptor does not play an important role in mediating sensitization to cocaine.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)37-40
Number of pages4
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume344
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 19 2003

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant of the Korea Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (02-PJ1-PG3-21301-0017). The authors thank Dr E.-Y. Cha and Mr S.-G. Lee for providing a automated analysis system (NeuroVison).

Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Behavioral sensitization
  • Cocaine
  • Knockout mice
  • Locomotor activity
  • Morphine
  • μ-Opioid receptors

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