Effects of glycine, beta-alanine and diazepam upon morphine-tolerant-dependent mice

The effects in mice of glycine, beta-alanine and diazepam on the analgesic response to morphine, on the intensity of tolerance and on the physical dependence on the analgesic have been examined. The two amino acids increased the analgesic response to morphine in a dose-related manner. However, both compounds were ineffective in the analgesic test (hot plate) when administered without morphine. Diazepam was ineffective in the analgesic test and it did not alter morphine analgesia, except when administered in a high dose which decreased and analgesic response. Glycine, either in single or repeated doses, did not modify tolerance to morphine, whereas beta-alanine induced a dose-related partial antagonism, which promptly reached a plateau. Diazepam induced a small decrease in the intensity of tolerance to the analgesic. The abstinence syndrome to morphine, induced by naloxone administration to primed mice, was reduced by single doses of glycine or beta-alanine. Diazepam behaved as a weak inhibitor of the abstinence syndrome when administered at a high dose. The potentiation of morphine analgesia and the antagonism of the abstinence syndrome induced by the amino acids may be related to their hyperpolarizing action in the c.n. system. The effects of beta-alanine on morphine tolerance cannot be explained by the same mechanism.