Intermittent cold water stress-analgesia in rats: cross-tolerance to morphine

Continuous cold water swim ( CCWS , 3.5 min, 2 degrees C) induces a non-opiate type of analgesia since 14 mg/kg of naltrexone or 20 mg/kg of naloxone only partially antagonize this stress-induced analgesia (SIA) and since there is no cross-tolerance between CCWS and morphine-analgesia. Intermittent cold water swim ( ICWS ) analgesia is significantly antagonized by naltrexone (14 mg/kg). These studies suggested that CCWS -analgesia is mediated by non-opioid systems, while ICWS -analgesia acts through a system that also mediates morphine analgesia. The hypothesis that ICWS -analgesia shares a common opioid pathway with morphine-analgesia, but not with CCWS -analgesia, was further tested by cross-tolerance studies in rats. The results showed a complete cross-tolerance to morphine analgesia in ICWS -tolerant animals,, but no cross-tolerance in animals. This suggests that morphine- and ICWS -analgesia partially share a common pathway, ICWS acting probably at levels "downstream" from the opiate-sensitive site, while CCWS induces analgesia by acting on a different system which is not mediated by opioids.