Increases of CCK mRNA and peptide in different brain areas following acute and chronic administration of morphine.

The present study examined whether either acute or chronic administration of morphine resulted in changes in the content of CCK mRNA and CCK immunoactive peptide in selective areas of the rat brain and spinal cord. Two hours after a single injection of morphine (10 mg/kg, s.c.), CCK mRNA significantly increased in the hypothalamus (0.8-fold) and spinal cord (2-fold) relative to the CCK mRNA content in saline-injected controls. No significant differences in CCK mRNA were observed in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, midbrain or brainstem. There were no significant alterations in CCK immunoreactivity in any brain regions and spinal cord after the acute treatment with morphine. Upon repeated morphine administration, the content of CCK mRNA in both the hypothalamus and the spinal cord was further elevated by at least 3-fold. A significant increase of CCK mRNA content in brain stem (2.8-fold) was also observed following chronic morphine administration. In contrast to the acute exposure to morphine, chronic administration resulted in significant increases in CCK immunoactive peptide in hypothalamus (2.6-fold), spinal cord (2.1-fold) and brainstem (1.6-fold), but not in the other brain areas. These results demonstrate that morphine, especially following repeated administrations, stimulates endogenous CCK biosynthesis in selective brain regions.