Abstract

The effects of the atypical antidepressant and serotonin antagonist mianserin on the expression of opiate withdrawal was examined using an acute and a chronic model of morphine dependence. In the first experiment, rats, trained to perform a food-reinforced, autoshaped lever touch response, were injected with naloxone (5 mg/kg) 4 hr after treatment with a single moderate dose of morphine (15 mg/kg). Mianserin (0.25, 1.0 and 2.5 mg/kg) attenuated the naloxone-induced suppression of autoshaped responding. Colonic temperatures were also monitored. Morphine treatment resulted in significant hyperthermia, while precipitation of withdrawal by naloxone produced hypothermia. Mianserin also attenuated the naloxone-induced hypothermia. In the second experiment, rats were implanted s.c. with a single 75-mg morphine or placebo pellet. Withdrawal was precipitated with naloxone (5 mg/kg) 24, 48 and 120 hr post implantation. Mianserin (2.5 mg/kg) blocked or attenuated signs of withdrawal precipitated by naloxone. Naloxone-precipitated weight loss was also attenuated 48 and 120 hr post implantation. At 120 hr post implantation, rats were decapitated 1 hr after the administration of naloxone and trunk blood was collected. Mianserin did not block the naloxone-induced rise in plasma corticosterone levels. Thus, several signs of withdrawal (e.g., behavioral effects, weight loss and hypothermia) seem to involve serotonergic mediation and can be blocked by mianserin, while others (e.g., rise in plasma corticosterone), which may be unaffected by mianserin, may be a reflection of a compensatory response to withdrawal stress, rather than a mediator of maladaptive consequences of withdrawal that are not mediated by serotonin.