de Gandarias J M, Echevarria E, Acebes I, Silio M, Casis L
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain.
Arzneimittelforschung. 1998 Jul;48(7):717-9.
Imipramine hydrochloride (CAS 113-52-0) is a widely used antidepressant and can interact with opioid receptors. However, complete information concerning possible regional alterations in mu-opioid receptor expression in the rat forebrain after chronic treatment with this substance is still lacking. This being the case, analysis of mu-opioid receptor immunostaining in several regions of the rat brain after imipramine administration in vivo was made, and an increase in the density of cells expressing mu-opioid receptors in the caudatus-putamen, the dentate gyrus and the frontal, parietal and piriform cortices after chronic imipramine treatment, with respect to controls, was found. These data suggest that mu-opioid receptor expression in the rat forebrain is altered by in vivo chronic imipramine treatment.
