TY - JOUR T1 - Morphine and Endomorphins Differentially Regulate μ-Opioid Receptor mRNA in SHSY-5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cells JF - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics JO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther SP - 447 LP - 454 DO - 10.1124/jpet.103.048694 VL - 306 IS - 2 AU - Xin Yu AU - Xin Mao AU - Allan D. Blake AU - Wen Xin Li AU - Sulie L. Chang Y1 - 2003/08/01 UR - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/306/2/447.abstract N2 - A sensitive quantitative-competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method was developed to measure μ-opioid receptor (MOR) mRNA expression in SHSY-5Y neuroblastoma cells. Differentiation of SHSY-5Y cells with either retinoic acid (RA) or 12-o-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) significantly increased MOR mRNA levels. Morphine treatment (10 μM) for 24 h decreased MOR mRNA levels in control, as well as RA- and TPA-differentiated cells. In contrast, chronic exposure to the opioid peptides endomorphin-1 or endomorphin-2 significantly increased MOR mRNA levels in undifferentiated and RA-differentiated cells. An opioid antagonist, naloxone, reversed the morphine and endomorphin-1 and -2 effects on MOR mRNA levels in undifferentiated SHSY-5Y cells, but naloxone had differential reversing effects on the agonists' regulation of MOR mRNA in RA- or TPA-differentiated cells. To investigate whether the changes in MOR mRNA expression paralleled changes in MOR receptor function, intracellular cAMP accumulation in SHSY-5Y cells was measured. After chronic treatment with morphine, forskolin-induced cAMP levels in SHSY-5Y cells were significantly higher than those of untreated control cells. In contrast, forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation levels were lower in cells treated with endomorphin-1 or -2 than in untreated control cells. Together, our studies indicate that the opioid alkaloid morphine and the opioid peptides endomorphin-1 and -2 differentially regulate MOR mRNA expression and MOR function in SHSY-5Y cells. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ER -