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Volume 16, Number 20,
Issue of October 15, 1996
pp. 6490-6503
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience
µ-Opioid and -Opioid Receptors Are Expressed in Brainstem
Antinociceptive Circuits: Studies Using Immunocytochemistry and
Retrograde Tract-Tracing
Received May 16, 1996; revised July 10, 1996; accepted July 23, 1996.
Alexander E. Kalyuzhny,
Ulf Arvidsson,
Wei Wu, and
Martin
W. Wessendorf
Department of Cell Biology and Neuroanatomy, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Opioid-produced antinociception in mammals seems to be mediated in
part by pathways originating in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and the
rostroventral medulla (RVM), and these pathways may include
serotonergic neurons. In the present study, we examined the
relationship of the cloned µ- and -receptors (MOR1 and DOR1,
respectively) to PAG neurons projecting to the RVM, and RVM neurons
projecting to the dorsal spinal cord. This was carried out by combining
immunocytochemical staining for MOR1, DOR1, and serotonin with
fluorescent retrograde tract-tracing. Of 133 retrogradely labeled cells
in the RVM, 31% were immunoreactive for MOR1. Of the double-labeled
cells, 41% also were immunoreactive for 5HT. Fifty-three percent of
retrogradely labeled cells were apposed by DOR1-ir varicosities; 29%
of the apposed cells were immunoreactive for 5HT. In the mesencephalon,
cells retrogradely labeled from the RVM were usually surrounded by
MOR1-ir structures; however, retrogradely labeled cells were never
observed to be immunoreactive for MOR1. Similarly, retrogradely labeled
cells in the caudal midbrain were seldom, if ever, labeled for DOR1;
however, they frequently were apposed by DOR1-ir varicosities. Of 156 retrogradely labeled profiles from three rats, 52 (33%) were apposed
by DOR1-ir varicosities. We conclude that both µ- and -opioid
receptors could be involved in the antinociception mediated by the
PAG-RVM-spinal cord circuit. In addition, opioids seem likely to have
both direct and indirect effects on spinally projecting RVM cells in
general, and on serotonergic RVM cells in particular.
Key words:
µ-opioid receptors;
-opioid receptors;
serotonin;
immunocytochemistry;
pain;
antinociception;
retrograde tract-tracing;
confocal microscopy
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