Opioid elements in development of the spontaneous motility of chick embryos.

The effects of the acute and chronic administration of a pure opioid antagonist--naltrexone--was studied in chick embryos from the 4th to the 19th day of incubation. In acute administration, naltrexone (40 mg/kg egg weight) induced paroxysmal activation of spontaneous motility in both normal and spinal embryos from the 13th-15th day of incubation. Activation attained 3- to 4-fold the resting activity of chick embryos of the same ages. The chronic administration of naltrexone (7.46 +/- 1.18 mg/kg e.w. per 24 h) from the 4th to the 16th day of incubation was not manifested either in the embryos' somatic development or in the weight of the brain hemispheres, but it depressed the development of spontaneous motility to 26.1-75.8% of the activity of the control embryos. This developmental effect was not demonstrably correlated either to the length of time for which naltrexone was administered, or to when, in the course of incubation, it was administered to the chick embryos. The results are evaluated as evidence of the participation of opioid elements in the development and effectuation of central motor input functions in the early stages of ontogenetic development.