Abstract
Male Fischer rats received either methadone (a long-acting opioid agonist, 10 mg/kg/day) or saline (24 μl/day) subcutaneously by osmotic minipumps for 7 days. Chronic steady-state methadone administration did not alter (a) corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA in the hypothalamus, (b) proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and CRF type 1 receptor (CRF-R1) mRNAs in the anterior lobe and neurointermediate/posterior lobe of the pituitary, or (c) circulating levels of corticosterone. No change was found in levels of either POMC mRNA in the hypothalamus and amygdala, or CRF mRNA in the frontal cortex, olfactory bulb and amygdala. These results demonstrate that neither the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, nor the β-endorphin and CRF systems in the brain, are altered by steady-state occupancy of opioid receptors with the long-acting opioid agonist methadone.
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