Shock-induced Analgesia in the cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

For 3 consecutive days cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) received escapable, inescapable, or no shock in an escape task. 24 hr. later minimum shock which initiated movement was identified. Reliably higher shocks were needed to initiate movement in the inescapably shocked roaches. In a second experiment the analgesia induced by inescapable shock was blocked by the opiate antagonist naloxone. The results are discussed in relation to the escape deficit and analgesia commonly seen following exposure to inescapable shock in a variety of species.