Attenuation of the reinforcing efficacy of morphine by 18-methoxycoronaridine

In previous studies, 18-methoxycoronaridine, a novel iboga alkaloid congener, has been reported to decrease the self-administration of morphine, cocaine, ethanol and nicotine, and to attenuate naltrexone-precipitated signs of morphine withdrawal. In the present study, the nature of the interaction between 18-methoxycoronaridine and morphine was further investigated. Using in vivo microdialysis, 18-methoxycoronaridine pretreatment (40 mg/kg i.p., 19 h beforehand) was found to markedly inhibit morphine-induced (5 mg/kg, i.p.) dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and striatum; 18-methoxycoronaridine also enhanced morphine-induced increases in extracellular levels of dopamine's metabolites. These effects, which were more prominent in the nucleus accumbens than in the striatum, suggest that 18-methoxycoronaridine selectively interferes with morphine-induced dopamine release, without altering morphine-induced stimulation of dopamine synthesis. In intravenous morphine self-administration experiments, the effects of acute 18-methoxycoronaridine treatment (40 mg/kg, p.o.) were assessed in rats responding for one of several different unit infusion dosages of morphine (0.01-0.16 mg/kg/infusion). 18-Methoxycoronaridine produced a downward shift in the entire morphine dose-response curve without any displacement to the left or right. These results suggest that 18-methoxycoronaridine reduced the reinforcing efficacy of morphine without altering its apparent potency. Together, the microdialysis and self-administration data suggest that 18-methoxycoronaridine profoundly alters mechanisms crucial to the development and maintenance of opioid addiction.