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Antagonism of morphine by long acting narcotic antagonists

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Abstract

The effects of three narcotic antagonists, diprenorphine, naltrexone, and naloxone were studied on the schedule-controlled behavior of pigeons. Naltrexone decreased the rate of responding under the FR and FI components of a multiple fixed-interval, fixed-ratio schedule. Naltrexone and diprenorphine were equipotent in blocking the rate-decreasing effects of morphine on schedule-controlled behavior when the antagonists were given immediately before morphine, and both were more potent morphine antagonists than naloxone. Higher doses of all 3 antagonists were required to block the effects of morphine as the time between the administration of the antagonist and morphine increased. Naltrexone provided a slightly better antagonism of morphine than diprenorphine when morphine was given 2 or 6 h after the antagonist and both antagonists had a longer duration of antagonist action than naloxone.

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Dykstra, L.A., McMillan, D.E. & Harris, L.S. Antagonism of morphine by long acting narcotic antagonists. Psychopharmacologia 39, 151–162 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440845

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00440845

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