Meptazinol activity on morphine-naive and morphine-dependent guinea-pig ileum: correlation with in vivo studies

The effects of meptazinol and some opioid agonists and antagonists were studied on opioid-naive guinea-pig ileum (GPIN) and ileum taken from morphine-dependent guinea-pigs (GPID). Meptazinol produced a biphasic effect in GPIN and GPID with a depression of the electrically induced twitch response at lower concentrations and contractural potentiation at higher concentrations. The effects of meptazinol in both GPIN and GPID were similar, thus distinguishing it from the other opioid agonists and antagonists which produced differential effects on these tissues. In morphine-pelletted rats, meptazinol (5 mg/kg i.p.) did not produce notable withdrawal as measured by behavioural observation. However, meptazinol (30 mg/kg i.p.) enhanced the signs associated with cholinergic activation. It is suggested that meptazinol possesses a cholinergic component and that the morphine-withdrawal signs observed to the higher meptazinol dose were more probably attributable to cholinergic stimulation rather than any underlying opioid-precipitated withdrawal.