Differential involvement of opioid receptors in intrathecal butorphanol-induced analgesia: compared to morphine.

The present experiments were performed to investigate the differential involvement of the opioid receptor subtypes in the antinociception of intrathecal (IT) butorphanol compared to IT morphine. A single dose (26 nmol) of IT nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI), beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA), and naltrindole (NTI) demonstrated a significant attenuation in the overall antinociception of IT butorphanol (52 nmol) or IT morphine (26 nmol). However, IT butorphanol elicits thermal antinociceptive effect through kappa > delta > or = mu, whereas morphine acts on mu >delta >> kappa. These results indicate that the antinociceptive effect of both IT butorphanol and IT morphine are mediated through mu, delta, and kappa opioid receptors in different relative orders.