Cerebral delta opioid receptors mediate analgesia but not the intestinal motility effects of intracerebroventricularly administered opioids.

Conformationally constrained cyclic enkephalin analogs which possess a high selectivity for the delta opioid receptor were used to determine the relative contribution of mu and delta receptors to brain-mediated changes in small intestinal propulsion and increases in hot-plate response time. Receptor preferences were determined by comparing the relative potencies of several opioid agonists in suppressing the electrically evoked contractions of the guinea-pig ileum and mouse vas deferens preparations. The ratio of IC50 values obtained in the guinea-pig ileum and the mouse vas deferens was used as an index of delta receptor selectivity. Effects on intestinal transit were determined in rats in which a silastic cannula had been implanted in the proximal duodenum and a polyethylene cannula in the right lateral cerebral ventricle (i.c.v.). Movement of a radioactive marker along the length of the small intestine after instillation into the duodenum was used to evaluate drug-induced changes in intestinal transit. The analgesic effects of i.c.v. administered opioids were determined in a second group of rats in which i.c.v. cannulas alone had been implanted. After i.c.v. administration of the agonist, the rats were placed on a 55 degrees C hot plate and the latency to rear paw-lick was timed. Compounds which showed a preference for the mu receptor [( D-Ala2, N-methyl-Phe4, Gly5 -ol]enkephalin and morphine/normorphine) were the most potent agonists at producing thermal analgesia and inhibition of small intestinal transit, whereas nonselective compounds (beta-endorphin and [D-Ala2, Met5]enkephalinamide) were slightly less potent in these assays.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)