Suppression of deprivation-induced food and water intake in rats and mice by naloxone.

Naloxone, an opiate antagonist, was administered to male and female rats and male mice after periods of food or water deprivation ranging from 12 to 48 hr. Naloxone (0.01-10 mg/kg) reduced postdeprivational water intake in most groups of rats and mice in a dose-related manner. Naloxone suppression of water consumption appeared to be independent of sexual differences in rats, and phase of the diurnal cycle, and length of the deprivation interval in both rats and mice. Postdeprivational food intake in male rats and mice was also reduced by naloxone in a dose-dependent fashion. This naloxone effect was less pronounced than actions observed with water intake, and tended to diminish with lengthening food deprivation periods. In general, mice appeared to be less sensitive than rats to naloxone suppression of food and water intake. Naloxone appears to markedly reduce appetitive behavior, particularly water intake, following deprivation in both rats and mice. The fact that low doses of naloxone can elicit these effects suggests that the drug is acting at specific tissue sites, possibly endorphine recpetors.