Abstract

The effect of intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of morphine on corticosterone secretion was studied in conscious, unstressed rats. A dose-dependent increase in serum corticosterone levels was observed 1 h after morphine injection. The corticosterone response to morphine was antagonized in a dose-dependent manner, and at larger dose almost abolished, by i.c.v. pretreatment of rats with naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist. Intraventricular pretreatment of rats with mepyramine and cimetidine, the histamine H1- and H2-receptor antagonists, significantly diminished the corticosterone response to morphine. These results suggest that central opioid receptors are involved in the stimulating effect of morphine on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Central histamine H1- and H2-receptors seem to be substantially involved in the stimulatory effect of morphine on corticosterone secretion in conscious, unstressed rats.

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