Abstract
Four experiments evaluated the effect of levorphanol on ingestive behaviour of different groups of non-deprived pigeons. In experiments 1 and 2, levorphanol and its (+)stereoisomer dextrorphan were administered at three doses (0.25, 1 and 2 mg). As compared with control values, levorphanol dose-dependently reduced food intake. This anorexia persisted for at least 5 h post-injection. A late hyperdipsia was also observed. These changes were stereoselective, suggesting that they followed the binding of levorphanol to opiate receptors. In experiments 3 and 4, the anorexic effect of 1 mg levorphanol, but not its hyperdipsic effect, was partly antagonized by the concomitant administration of either 0.25 mg or 1 mg naloxone. Given alone at the dose of 1 mg, naloxone slightly and transiently reduced food, but not water, intake. These results are discussed in terms of the endorphinergic regulation of ingestive behaviour in birds.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ayhan IH, Randrup A (1973) Behavioural and pharmacological studies on morphine-induced excitation of rats. Possible relation to brain catecholamines. Psychopharmacology 29:317–328
Brown DR, Holtzman SG (1980) Evidence that opiate receptors mediate suppression of hypertonic saline-induced drinking in the mouse by narcotic antagonists. Life Sci 26:1543–1550
Brown DR, Blank MS, Holtzman SG (1980) Suppression by naloxone of water intake induced by deprivation and hypertonic saline in intact and hypophysectomized rats. Life Sci 26:1535–1542
Cooper SJ (1980) Naloxone: effects on food and water consumption in the non-deprived and deprived rat. Psychopharmacology 71:1–6
Cooper SJ (1981) Behaviourally-specific hyperdipsia in the non-deprived rat following acute morphine treatment. Neuropharmacology 20:469–472
Cooper SJ (1982a) Effects of opiate antagonists and of morphine on chlordiazepoxide-induced hyperdipsia in the water-deprived rat. Neuropharmacology 21:1013–1017
Cooper SJ (1982b) Palatability-induced drinking after administration of morphine, naltrexone and diazepam in the non-deprived rat. Subst Alcohol Actions/Misuse 3:259–265
Cooper SJ, Turkish S (1981) Food and water intake in the non-deprived pigeon after morphine or naloxone administration. Neuropharmacology 20:1053–1058
Deviche P, Schepers G (1984a) Naloxone treatment attenuates food but not water intake in domestic pigeons. Psychopharmacology 82:122–126
Deviche P, Schepers G (1984b) Intracerebroventricular injection of ostrich and human β-endorphins enhances food but not water intake by pigeons. Peptides in press
Deviche P, Wohland A (1984) Opiate antagonists stereoselectively attenuate the consumption of food but not of water by pigeons. Pharmacol Biochem Behav in press
Downs DA, Woods JH (1976) Morphine, pentazocine and naloxone effects on responding under a multiple sehedule of reinforcement in rhesus monkeys and pigeons. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 196:298–306
Dykstra LA, McMillan DE, Harris LS (1974) Antagonism of morphines by long acting narcotic antagonists. Psychopharmacology 39:151–162
Frenk H, Rogers GH (1979) The suppressant effects of naloxone on food and water intake in the rat. Behav Neural Biol 26:23–40
Goldberg SR, Morse WH, Goldberg DM (1981) Acute and chronic effects of naltrexone and naloxone on schedule-controlled behavior of squirrel monkeys and pigeons. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 216:500–509
Grandison L, Guidotti A (1977) Stimulation of food intake by muscimol and beta endorphin. Neuropharmacology 16:533–536
Inturrisi CE, Fujimoto JM (1968) Studies on the antidiuretic actions of morphine in the rat. Eur J Pharmacol 2:301–307
Leibowitz SF, Hor L (1982) Endorphinergic and α-noradrenergic systems in the paraventricular nucleus: effects on eating behavior. Peptides 3:421–428
Leshem M (1981) Morphine-induced anorexia in lateral hypothalamic rats. Psychopharmacology 75:48–53
Locke KW, Brown DR, Holtzman SG (1982) Effects of opiate antagonists and putative mu- and kappa-agonists on milk intake in rat and squirrel monkey. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 17:1275–1279
Lowy MT, Starkey C, Yim GKW (1981) Stereoselective effects of opiate agonists on ingestive behavior in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 15:591–596
Maickel RP, Braude MC, Zabik JE (1977) The effects of various narcotic agonists and antagonists on deprivation-induced fluid consumption. Neuropharmacology 16:863–866
McLean S, Hoebel BG (1982) Opiate and norepinephrine-induced feeding from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus are dissociable. Life Sci 31:2379–2382
McMillan DE, Wolf PS, Carchman RA (1970) Antagonism of the behavioral effects of morphine and methadone by narcotic antagonists in the pigeon. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 175:443–458
Miller M (1975) Inhibition of ADH release in the rat by narcotic antagonists. Neuroendocrinology 19:241–251
Morley JE, Levine AS (1981) Dynorphin-(1–13) induces spontaneous feeding in rats. Life Sci 29:1901–1903
Ostrowski NL, Rowland N, Foley TL, Nelson JL, Reid LD (1981) Morphine antagonists and consummatory behaviors. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 14:549–559
Pert CB, Snyder SH (1974) Opiate receptor: demonstration in nervous tissue. Science 179:1011–1014
Rowland N (1982) Comparison of the suppression by naloxone of water intake induced in rats by hyperosmolarity, hypovolemia, and angiotensin. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 16:87–91
Rowland N, Bartness TJ (1982) Naloxone suppresses insulin-induced food intake in novel and familar environments, but does not affect hypoglycemia. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 16:1001–1003
Sanger DJ, McCarthy PS (1980) Differential effects of morphine on food and water intake in food deprived and freely-feeding rats. Psychopharmacology 72:103–106
Sanger DJ, McCarthy PS (1981) Increased food and water intake produced in rats by opiate receptor agonists. Psychopharmacology 74:217–220
Sanger DJ, McCarthy PS (1982) The anorectic action of naloxone is attenuated by adaptation to a food-deprivation schedule. Psychopharmacology 77:336–338
Sanger DJ, McCarthy PS, Metcalf G (1981) The effects of opiate antagonists on food intake are stereospecific. Neuropharmacology 20:45–47
Sawynok J, Pinsky C, La Bella FS (1979) Minireview: on the specificity of naloxone as an opiate antagonist. Life Sci 25:1621–1632
Schneider H, Blackmore EK (1955) The effect of nalorphine on the antidiuretic action of morphine in rat and man. Br J Pharmacol 10:45–50
Thornhill JA, Hirst M, Gowdey CW (1979) Changes in core temperature and feeding in rats by levorphanol and dextrorphan. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 57:1028–1032
Tseng LF, Cheng DS (1980) Acute and chronic administration of β-endorphin and naloxone on food and water intake in rats. Fed Proc 39:606
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Deviche, P., Schepers, G. Ingestive behaviour of the pigeon: Stereoselective influence of the opiate agonist levorphanol and its antagonism by naloxone. Psychopharmacology 83, 357–362 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428545
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428545