CSF-endorphins in heroin addicts during methadone maintenance and during withdrawal

Seventeen opiate-dependent subjects accepted for methadone maintenance treatment were housed in a closed metabolic ward. They stayed drug-free for 3 weeks before methadone treatment was started. One sample of cerebrospinal fluid was taken immediately before the first methadone dose and another sample was taken after the patient had received methadone daily for 3 weeks. Fraction I and II endorphin levels were frequently pathological on both occasions, either elevated or reduced when compared with 19 healthy volunteers. Subjects with pathological pre-treatment levels of both fractions seemed to respond better to the methadone treatment that those with at least one pre-treatment value within the normal range.