Morphine-sensitive late components of the flexion reflex in the neonatal rat

The 8-15-day-old rat spinal cord was isolated together with peripheral nerves innervating a hindlimb. Multiunit neural discharges in response to electrical stimulation of a cutaneous nerve (sural, plantar of superficial peroneal nerve) were recorded from a flexor nerve (deep peroneal nerve or nerve innervating the hamstring muscles). Attempts were made to find relations between the magnitude of the flexion reflex discharges and the sizes of the volleys in the myelinated or unmyelinated afferent fibers. The neonatal flexion reflex discharges due to myelinated fiber volleys were exaggerated when compared with those in the adult rats. Higher stimulus strengths recruited later components of the flexion reflex discharges. The observed increment of the flexion reflex discharges was precisely associated with the recruitment of unmyelinated afferent fibers in the nerve. These late flexion reflex discharges were shown to be depressed by the opiate analgesic morphine in a naloxone-reversible manner.