naloxone and Encephalitis

Recent studies show that morphine possesses protective preconditioning effects in different ischemia/reperfusion models. However, there is very little information about the antineuroinflammatory role of morphine and its protective effect against memory deficit. In the present study, we evaluated the role of morphine preconditioning in a model of mild neuroinflammation induced by intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection (1 mg/kg). Rats were trained on passive avoidance apparatus and challenged with LPS 20 h later. Four hours after LPS, rats were subjected to passive avoidance testing and then for the assessments of inflammatory and apoptotic cell death mediators in the hippocampus. LPS significantly increased the nuclear NF-κB and expression of COX-2, IL-1β, and TNF-α, augmented the activity of caspase-3 and PARP cleavage, and in parallel shortened the latencies to enter the dark compartment. Although morphine injection in a noninflammatory context was able to induce a neuroinflammatory response and memory loss, morphine preconditioning at the dose of 4 mg/kg significantly prevented the LPS-induced neuroinflammation and memory deficit. Morphine preconditioning was abolished by naloxone and, therefore, is dependent on opioid receptors. These results suggest that acute morphine injection, in spite of the induction of a neuroinflammatory response and amnesia per se, exerts an antineuroinflammatory role and protects from cell death and memory deficit in an inflammatory context.

Topics: Analgesics, Opioid; Animals; Avoidance Learning; Brain Ischemia; Caspase 3; Encephalitis; Ischemic Preconditioning; Lipopolysaccharides; Male; Memory Disorders; Morphine; Naloxone; Narcotic Antagonists; Neuroprotective Agents; Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, Opioid

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion involves inflammatory process and naloxone is able to reduce infarct volume and has been used as a therapeutic agent for brain injury. Hypoxia induces the immediate early genes (IEGs) rapidly and transiently that may initiate a cascade of cellular responses that are necessary for survival and normal function. However, the protective effect of naloxone on ischemic/hypoxic neuronal cells was only partly studied. Thus, the effects of naloxone on oxygen- and glucose-deprivation (OGD) and OGD followed by reoxygenation (OGD/R) on the expression of IEGs were examined in PC12 cells. The result showed that lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released in the media was reduced by naloxone. The temporal response of IEG mRNA encoding c-fos, c-jun, nur77, and zif268 was induced with different degree of intensity following hypoxia, whereas the level of GAPDH mRNA was relatively constant. However, these signals of c-fos, c-jun, and nur77 by hypoxia were reduced significantly by naloxone. Treatment with OGD also activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. The induction of c-fos, c-jun, nur77, and zif268 by hypoxia was inhibited by naloxone (0.1 microM) and MAPK inhibitors (10 microM of U0126, D98059, SB203580). However, naloxone increased the expression of ERK1/2 by OGD concomitantly diminished the LDH release. Thus, the present studies demonstrated that OGD induced IEGs including c-fos, c-jun, nur77, and zif268 and MAPK signaling pathways were regulated differently by naloxone.

Topics: Animals; Brain Infarction; Cytoprotection; DNA-Binding Proteins; Encephalitis; Enzyme Inhibitors; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes, Immediate-Early; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; Naloxone; Narcotic Antagonists; Neurons; Neuroprotective Agents; Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 1; Oxidative Stress; PC12 Cells; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; Rats; Receptors, Steroid; Reperfusion Injury