Journal
EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 18, Issue 3, Pages 194-199Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2007.06.008
Keywords
nitrous oxide; antinociception; periaqueductal gray; opioid receptors; nitric oxide
Funding
- NIDA NIH HHS [R01 DA010047-04, DA-10047] Funding Source: Medline
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Previous studies have shown that nitrous oxide (N2O)-induced antinociception is sensitive to antagonism by blockade of opioid receptors and also by inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production. The present study was conducted to determine whether these occur within the same brain site. Mice were stereotaxically implanted with microinjection cannulae in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) area of the midbrain. In saline-pretreated mice, exposure to 70% N2O resulted in a concentration-dependent antinociceptive effect in the mouse abdominal constriction test. Pretreatment with an opioid antagonist in the PAG significantly antagonized the antinociceptive effect. Pretreatment with an inhibitor of NO production in the PAG also significantly antagonized the antinociceptive effect. These findings suggest that N2O acts in the PAG via an NO-dependent, opioid receptor-mediated mechanism to induce antinociception. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.
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