Article date: February 1984
By: Alan I. Faden, Thomas P. Jacobs in Volume 81, Issue 2, pages 271-276
We compared effects on motor function of four peptides belonging to the dynorphin family ‐dynorphin‐(1–17) (DYN‐(1–17)), dynorphin‐(1–13) (DYN‐(1–13)), dynorphin‐(1–8) (DYN‐(1–8)) and α‐neo‐endorphin (αNE).
After intrathecal administration, each of these peptides produced dose‐related, flaccid, hindlimb paralysis, with the order of potency being DYN‐(1–17) > DYN‐(1–13) > αNE ≏DYN‐(1–8).
This motor dysfunction was not reversed or blocked by the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone and was not produced by a variety of other κ‐selective agonists.
However, paralysis was produced by des‐Tyr‐dynorphin (DYN‐(2–17)), which does not act at the opioid receptor.
Taken together, the present studies show that dynorphin‐related peptides, uniquely amongst opioids, produce motor dysfunction, an action which does not appear to be mediated by opioid receptors.
We compared effects on motor function of four peptides belonging to the dynorphin family ‐dynorphin‐(1–17) (DYN‐(1–17)), dynorphin‐(1–13) (DYN‐(1–13)), dynorphin‐(1–8) (DYN‐(1–8)) and α‐neo‐endorphin (αNE).
After intrathecal administration, each of these peptides produced dose‐related, flaccid, hindlimb paralysis, with the order of potency being DYN‐(1–17) > DYN‐(1–13) > αNE ≏DYN‐(1–8).
This motor dysfunction was not reversed or blocked by the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone and was not produced by a variety of other κ‐selective agonists.
However, paralysis was produced by des‐Tyr‐dynorphin (DYN‐(2–17)), which does not act at the opioid receptor.
Taken together, the present studies show that dynorphin‐related peptides, uniquely amongst opioids, produce motor dysfunction, an action which does not appear to be mediated by opioid receptors.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1984.tb10074.x
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