Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Fast Forward
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Sections
    • Archive
  • Information
    • Instructions to Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • FAQs
    • For Subscribers
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
    • Permissions
  • Editorial Board
  • Alerts
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
  • Virtual Issues
  • Feedback
  • Submit
  • Other Publications
    • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
    • Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
    • Molecular Pharmacology
    • Pharmacological Reviews
    • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
    • ASPET

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
  • Other Publications
    • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
    • Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
    • Molecular Pharmacology
    • Pharmacological Reviews
    • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
    • ASPET
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Fast Forward
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Sections
    • Archive
  • Information
    • Instructions to Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • FAQs
    • For Subscribers
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
    • Permissions
  • Editorial Board
  • Alerts
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
  • Virtual Issues
  • Feedback
  • Submit
  • Visit jpet on Facebook
  • Follow jpet on Twitter
  • Follow jpet on LinkedIn
OtherBEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY

Comparing the Subjective, Psychomotor and Physiological Effects of Intravenous Nalbuphine and Morphine in Healthy Volunteers

James P. Zacny, Kim Conley and Sandy Marks
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics March 1997, 280 (3) 1159-1169;
James P. Zacny
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kim Conley
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sandy Marks
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to characterize the subjective, psychomotor and physiological effects of nalbuphine in healthy non-drug abusing volunteers and to compare and contrast the effects of equianalgesic doses of nalbuphine and morphine. Subjects (12 males, 4 females) without histories of opiate dependence were injected in an upper extremity vein with 0, 2.5, 5.0 or 10 mg/70 kg nalbuphine, or with 10 mg/70 kg morphine, using a randomized, double-blind, crossover design. The 10-mg doses of nalbuphine and morphine are considered equianalgesic and are doses commonly given for relief of postoperative pain. Subjective effects of nalbuphine included increased scores on the Pentobarbital-Chlorpromazine-Alcohol Group scale and the Lysergic Acid Diethylamide scale of the Addiction Research Center Inventory; increased adjective checklist ratings of “nodding,” “numb” and “sweating”; increased visual analog scale ratings of “coasting or spaced out,” “high” and “sleepy” and increased “feel drug effect” and drug-liking ratings. Ten milligrams of nalbuphine had subjective effects similar, and similar in magnitude, to those of 10 mg of morphine. Nalbuphine produced exophoria and impairment on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test in a dose-related fashion. Ten milligrams of morphine produced exophoria but did not affect performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test. Both nalbuphine and morphine induced miosis and decreases in respiration rate. The results of the present study demonstrate that 2.5 to 10 mg nalbuphine had orderly, dose-related effects on subjective, psychomotor and physiological variables. The results also indicate that 10 mg of nalbuphine produces a profile of subjective, psychomotor and physiological effects similar to that of an equianalgesic dose of morphine (10 mg). The similarity in profiles between drugs at this dose is consistent with both infrahuman studies, which suggests that nalbuphine is a mu agonist, and studies with nondependent opioid abusers, in which relatively low doses of nalbuphine (such as 10 mg) produce morphine-like effects.

Footnotes

  • Send reprint requests to: James P. Zacny, Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care/MC4028, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.

  • ↵1 Research was supported in part by Grant DA-08573 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We thank Drs. Christopher Young, Jerome Klafta, P. Allan Klock, and Mary Maurer, C.R.N.A., and Robert Shaughnessy, C.R.N.A., for their assistance in administering the drugs and monitoring the physiological status of the subjects.

  • Abbreviations:
    ARCI
    Addiction Research Center Inventory
    PCAG
    Pentobarbital-Chlorpromazine-Alcohol Group
    BG
    Benzedrine Group
    LSD
    Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
    MBG
    Morphine-Benzedrine Group
    AMP
    Amphetamine
    DSST
    Digit Symbol Substitution Test
    VAS
    Visual Analogue Scale
    OAC
    Opiate Adjective Checklist
    SDQ
    Single Dose Questionnaire
    • Received June 5, 1996.
    • Accepted November 4, 1996.
  • The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
View Full Text

JPET articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years. 

Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page. 

 

  • Click here for information on institutional subscriptions.
  • Click here for information on individual ASPET membership.

 

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Vol. 280, Issue 3
1 Mar 1997
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Comparing the Subjective, Psychomotor and Physiological Effects of Intravenous Nalbuphine and Morphine in Healthy Volunteers
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
OtherBEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY

Comparing the Subjective, Psychomotor and Physiological Effects of Intravenous Nalbuphine and Morphine in Healthy Volunteers

James P. Zacny, Kim Conley and Sandy Marks
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics March 1, 1997, 280 (3) 1159-1169;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
OtherBEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY

Comparing the Subjective, Psychomotor and Physiological Effects of Intravenous Nalbuphine and Morphine in Healthy Volunteers

James P. Zacny, Kim Conley and Sandy Marks
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics March 1, 1997, 280 (3) 1159-1169;
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Ventilatory effects of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine
  • Cromakalim Prodrugs are Analgesics in Chronic Pain Models
  • Chronic Naltrexone: Opioid-Seeking and Antinociception
Show more Behavioral Pharmacology

Similar Articles

Advertisement
  • Home
  • Alerts
Facebook   Twitter   LinkedIn   RSS

Navigate

  • Current Issue
  • Fast Forward by date
  • Fast Forward by section
  • Latest Articles
  • Archive
  • Search for Articles
  • Feedback
  • ASPET

More Information

  • About JPET
  • Editorial Board
  • Instructions to Authors
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Customized Alerts
  • RSS Feeds
  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions
  • Terms & Conditions of Use

ASPET's Other Journals

  • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
  • Molecular Pharmacology
  • Pharmacological Reviews
  • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
ISSN 1521-0103 (Online)

Copyright © 2023 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics