Cholera toxin-B subunit blocks excitatory opioid receptor-mediated hyperalgesic effects in mice, thereby unmasking potent opioid analgesia and attenuating opioid tolerance/dependence

Abstract

In a previous study we demonstrated that injection (i.p.) of low doses of GM1 ganglioside in mice rapidly attenuates morphine’s analgesic effects. This result is consonant with our electrophysiologic studies in nociceptive types of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons in culture, which showed that exogenous GM1 rapidly increased the efficacy of excitatory (Gs-coupled) opioid receptor functions. By contrast, treatment of DRG neurons with the non-toxic B-subunit of cholera toxin (CTX-B) which binds selectively to GM1, blocked the excitatory, but not inhibitory, effects of morphine and other bimodally-acting opioid agonists, thereby resulting in a net increase in inhibitory opioid potency. The present study provides more direct evidence that endogenous GM1 plays a physiologic role in regulating excitatory opioid receptor functions in vivo by demonstrating that cotreatment with remarkably low doses of CTX-B (10 ng/kg, s.c.) selectively blocks hyperalgesic effects elicited by morphine or by a kappa opioid agonist, thereby unmasking potent opioid analgesia. These results are comparable to the effects of cotreatment of mice with morphine plus an ultra-low dose of the opioid antagonist, naltrexone (NTX) which blocks opioid-induced hyperalgesic effects, unmasking potent opioid analgesia. Low-dose NTX selectively blocks excitatory opioid receptors at their recognition site, whereas CTX-B binds to, and interferes with, a putative allosteric GM1 regulatory site on excitatory opioid receptors. Furthermore, chronic cotreatment of mice with morphine plus CTX-B attenuates development of opioid tolerance and physical dependence, as previously shown to occur during cotreatment with low-dose NTX.