Abstract
Previous work from our laboratory suggested that locus coeruleus (LC) and the coerulospinal noradrenergic pathway are intimately related to the elicitation of muscular rigidity by fentanyl. The present study attempted to identify the subtype of guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein that may participate in this process, using Sprague-Dawley rats anesthetized with ketamine and under mechanical ventilation. Immunofluorescent staining with a polyclonal antiserum directed against a 39-kDa protein that corresponds to the α subunit of G o revealed the presence of G oα immunoreactivity in neurons of the LC. Bilateral microinjection of the same G oα antiserum into the LC also significantly blunted the enhanced electromyographic activity recorded from the sacrococcygeus dorsalis lateralis muscle induced by intravenous administration of fentanyl (100 μg/kg). These results suggest that G oα protein at the LC may participate in the signal transduction process that underlies muscular rigidity induced by high-dose fentanyl.
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