Related Experiment Videos
Orphanin FQ/nociceptin blocks acquisition of morphine place preference
N P Murphy1, Y Lee, N T Maidment
1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Neuropsychiatric Institute, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. nmurphy@ucla.edu
Abstract:
Orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/N) suppresses the activity of the dopaminergic mesolimbic reward pathway yet reportedly fails to produce conditioned place aversion or preference. The present study sought to determine if this peptide could attenuate the development of morphine place preference. Male rats were administered OFQ/N (3 to 30 nmol intracerebroventricularly) during the induction of morphine (3 mg/kg subcutaneously) place preference. Animals receiving 3 or 10 nmol (but not 30 nmol) OFQ/N showed significant reductions in the development of place preference to morphine.