The Journal of Neuroscience, February 1, 2000, 20(3):1272-1280
Local Morphine Withdrawal Increases c-fos Gene,
Fos Protein, and Oxytocin Gene Expression in Hypothalamic Magnocellular
Neurosecretory Cells
Louise E.
Johnstone1,
Colin H.
Brown1,
Hanneke K. M.
Meeren1,
Chrétienne L.
Vuijst1,
Philip J.
Brooks2,
Gareth
Leng1, and
John A.
Russell1
1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University Medical
School, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, Scotland, United Kingdom, and
2 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20852
We measured stimulation of c-fos and oxytocin gene
expression during excitation of oxytocin cells induced by systemic or
local morphine withdrawal. Female rats were made morphine-dependent by
intracerebroventricular morphine infusion over 5 d. Morphine withdrawal, induced by systemic injection of the opioid antagonist naloxone (5 mg/kg) in conscious or anesthetized rats, increased the
density of c-fos messenger RNA and of oxytocin
heterogeneous nuclear RNA in supraoptic nucleus cells compared with
those of nonwithdrawn rats; c-fos messenger RNA was also
increased in the magnocellular and parvocellular paraventricular nuclei
of withdrawn rats. Morphine withdrawal increased the number of
Fos-immunoreactive cells in the supraoptic and magnocellular
paraventricular nuclei of conscious or
pentobarbitone-anesthetized rats. Morphine withdrawal also increased
Fos-immunoreactive cell numbers in the parvocellular paraventricular
nucleus of conscious but not anesthetized rats. Central administration
of the
1-adrenoreceptor antagonist benoxathian (5 µg/min) did not prevent morphine withdrawal-induced increases in the
numbers of Fos-immunoreactive neurons in the supraoptic or
magnocellular paraventricular nucleus. Unilateral microdialysis administration of naloxone (10
5 M)
into the supraoptic nucleus of anesthetized morphine-dependent rats
increased Fos-immunoreactive cell numbers compared with the contralateral nucleus. Finally, we investigated whether dependence could be induced by chronic unilateral infusion of morphine into a
supraoptic nucleus; systemic naloxone (5 mg/kg) increased
Fos-immunoreactive cell numbers in the morphine-infused nucleus
compared with the contralateral nucleus. Thus, morphine withdrawal
excitation increases c-fos and oxytocin gene expression
in supraoptic nucleus neurons. This occurs independently from
excitation of their ascending noradrenergic inputs, and both dependence
and withdrawal can be induced within the supraoptic nucleus.
Key words:
adrenoreceptors; benoxathian; dependence; hypothalamic
paraventricular nucleus; microdialysis; naloxone; opioid; supraoptic
nucleus
Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/00/2031272-09$05.00/0