The potentiation of spinal analgesia by leucine enkephalin

In two strains of rats, intrathecal administration of morphine and met-enkephalin was found to produce a dose-dependent analgesic effect as measured by the tail-flick assay. Prior administration of leu-enkephalin at a dose which had no analgesic effect was found to reduce significantly the analgesic ED₅₀ of both morphine and met-enkephalin. Met-enkephalin pretreatment, at a similar sub-analgesic dose, was without effect. Thus, a differential interaction of the enkephalins with morphine is evident at spinal structures.