Pavlovian conditioning of morphine-induced alterations of immune status: evidence for opioid receptor involvement

Prior work in our laboratory has shown that morphine's immunomodulatory effects can become conditioned to environmental stimuli that predict drug administration. These immune alterations include conditioned changes in natural killer cell activity, interleukin-2 production, and mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation. The present study examined the involvement of opioid receptor activity in the establishment and expression of conditioned morphine-induced alterations of immune status. During the training phase of the experiment, Lewis rats received two conditioning sessions during which a subcutaneous injection of 15 mg/kg morphine sulfate was paired with exposure to a distinctive environment. On the test day, animals were re-exposed to the distinctive environment alone prior to sacrifice. Saline or naltrexone (0.3, 1.0, 3.0 or 10.0 mg/kg) was administered during either the training or the test session. Administration of naltrexone prior to training antagonized the development of all of the conditioned alterations of immune status including changes in the mitogenic responsiveness of splenocytes, suppression of natural killer cell activity, and interleukin-2 production by splenocytes. Naltrexone administration prior to testing also was effective in antagonizing the expression of a subset of morphine-induced conditioned alterations in immune status. Taken together, these studies indicate that opioid receptor activity is involved in the establishment of conditioned morphine-induced immune alterations, as well as in the expression of a subset of these conditioned alterations of immune status.