Abstract
Rats exposed to novel stressful events subsequently display increased nociceptive thresholds while chronic exposure produces adaptation. The present study investigated whether the analgesia induced by one such stressor, a brief, forced cold-water swim, could be eliminated by an opiate receptor blockade induced by a narcotic antagonist. Naloxone at a dose of 10 mg/kg was partially able to attenuate stress-induced analgesia, but it had no effect upon normal nociceptive thresholds in unstressed control subjects. That a high dose of naloxone only partially attenuates stress-induced analgesia suggests that this type of analgesia is not identical to that induced by opiates.
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R.J.B. was supported by Postdoctoral NIMH Grant 13579. The research was supported by N. Y. S. Health Research Council Grants 922 to R. J. B. and 365 to D. D. K. We thank L. Skaredoff for technical assistance, C. Greenman for manuscript preparation, and Endo Laboratories for their kind donation of the naloxone hydrochloride.
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Bodnar, R.J., Kelly, D.D., Spiaggia, A. et al. Stress-induced analgesia: Effect of naloxone following cold water swims. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 12, 125–128 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329647
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329647