Differential effects of morphine on histamine metabolism in brain and spinal cord of mice.

The effects of morphine on the levels of histamine (HA), its metabolite tele-methylhistamine (t-MH) and on t-MH synthesis rates (thought to be indicative of neuronal HA release) were investigated in brain regions and spinal cords of DBA/2J (DBA) and C57/BL6 (C57) mice, two strains known to differ in their sensitivity to morphine. In DBA (a strain highly sensitive to morphine antinociception), morphine (10 mg/kg, s.c.) had no effect on brain regional t-MH or HA levels, but produced a generalized inhibition of regional t-MH synthesis rates ranging from 11 to 53%. The monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor pargyline (used to estimate t-MH synthesis rates) had no effect on HA or t-MH levels in the DBA or C57 spinal cord, indicating the absence of detectable spinal HA turnover. Morphine (10 mg/kg) had no effect on DBA or C57 spinal cord HA or t-MH levels, but significantly increased t-MH synthesis in the DBA but not in the C57 spinal cord. These results suggest that in DBA mice, antinociceptive doses of morphine inhibit HA release in brain, and promote the release of HA from spinal cord. Neither effect was found in C57 mice, which are resistant to morphine antinociception. The relevance of these actions to previous studies showing the blockade of opiate antinociception by H2 antagonists remains to be established.

Cimetidine-sensitive analgesia: investigation of the importance of stress-induced changes in arterial pressure.

Because previous studies have suggested that activation of baroreceptors could mediate stress-induced analgesia, the effect of acute exposure to footshock on mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pain sensitivity was simultaneously determined in conscious rats receiving the histamine H2 receptor antagonist cimetidine or vehicle. Continuous exposure to 3 min of inescapable footshock (3.5 mA) dramatically decreased pain sensitivity, with no increase in post-stress MAP, when compared to no shock controls. The histamine H2-antagonist cimetidine (100 mg/kg, IP) had no significant effect on MAP in resting or stressed animals, but inhibited the stress-induced analgesia, showing that the antagonism of the analgesia is not mediated by modulation of post-stress MAP. Although footshock failed to elicit a significant increase in MAP, a highly significant correlation was found between individual analgesic scores and shock-induced pressure changes in animals treated with cimetidine; in animals receiving vehicle, no such correlation was observed, although the use of a cutoff in analgesic testing may explain this. These results suggest the existence of a stress-induced analgesic mechanism resistant to cimetidine, but associated with elevated MAP.