Morphine analgesia and tolerance in mice selectively bred for divergent swim stress-induced analgesia.

Morphine-induced analgesia and tolerance were examined in Swiss Webster mice selectively bred for high and low swim stress-induced analgesia. Morphine produced a dose-dependent analgesia in both lines; it was 4-fold more potent in the high analgesia line than in the low analgesia line. Despite the differences in morphine-induced analgesia, the degree of tolerance was the same in both lines. Together, these data suggest that selective breeding of mice for high and low swim stress-induced analgesia produced a striking difference in morphine-induced analgesia without affecting the degree of tolerance. Thus, while there is a common genetic determination in swim stress-induced and morphine-induced analgesia, the development of tolerance to morphine possibly relies on a different genetic background.