Abstract
Abstract: Timed‐pregnant (day 21–22) Sprague‐Dawley rats were administered morphine, 5 mg/kg/hr, or saline in equivalent volumes, by continuous intravenous infusion for periods up to 4 hrs. The brain of maternal and foetal rats was collected and analyzed for ribosome size distribution and morphine content. A marked increase of the disome component of the free ribosome fraction of foetal and maternal brain, and a corresponding diminution of the monosome and polysome components, was observed after infusion of morphine. Ratios of disomes to monosomes and of disomes to polysomes were maximal after 3 hrs of infusion. At the same time, the morphine concentration in the brain of foetal and maternal rats was maximal and nearly equivalent when expressed on DNA basis. The changes in morphine concentration and disome formation occurred virtually in parallel in both the foetal and maternal brain. The results indicate that morphine administration may in a dose‐dependent way cause a derangement of cerebral protein synthesis, possibly by interfering with the availability of mRNA.
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