Effects of denervation on the sensitizing effect to noradrenaline induced by morphine in the vas deferens of mice treated chronically with morphine.

The acute administration of morphine to the isolated vas deferens from mice chronically exposed to this analgesic, induced a facilitatory effect on the responses of the muscle to exogenous noradrenaline. It has been suggested that this sensitizing property of morphine might reflect a dependence-like state of the vas deferens. In the present paper, the capability of met- and leu-enkephalin to substitute for morphine was studied, as well as the influence of innervation on the apparent dependence state. The contractile responses to noradrenaline and to acetylcholine were increased after the administration of morphine to the bath containing a denervated vas deferences, prepared from chronically morphinized mice. Morphine administration facilitated noradrenaline- but not acetylcholine-induced contractile effects in vas deferens isolated from mice which had been chronically treated with either morphine or morphine plus guanethidine. The presence of met- or leu-enkephalin in the isolated vas deferens from chronically morphinized mice (either intact, denervated or treated with guanethidine) failed to sensitize contractile responses to noradrenaline or acetylcholine. It is concluded that (a) the sensitizing effect induced by morphine in the vas deferens from mice chronically treated with morphine is specific for the adrenergic neurotransmitter; (b) the effect of morphine is not mimicked by opiate peptides; and (c) denervation of the vas deferens of mice treated chronically with morphine does not suppress the noradrenaline-sensitizing property of morphine.