Ba. Fuchs et Sb. Pruett, MORPHINE INDUCES APOPTOSIS IN MURINE THYMOCYTES IN-VIVO BUT NOT IN-VITRO - INVOLVEMENT OF BOTH OPIATE AND GLUCOCORTICOID RECEPTORS, The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 266(1), 1993, pp. 417-423
We tested the hypothesis that the previously observed loss of thymic l
ymphocytes in mice after treatment with time-release morphine pellets
was occurring through the process of apoptosis. Apoptosis is a form of
cell death, distinct from necrosis, which involves a specific endonuc
lease that fragments the cell's own DNA. Forty-eight hours after impla
ntation of a time-release morphine pellet in B6C3F1 mice, thymus weigh
t and cellularity was reduced to 30% of that observed in placebo-treat
ed mice. Thymocytes from morphine pellet-treated mice were found to ha
ve a significantly greater percentage of their DNA fragmented than did
thymocytes from either placebo pellet-implanted or naive control mice
. The peak level of DNA fragmentation was found to occur approximately
12 hr postpellet implant. When separated on agarose gels, the sizes o
f the DNA fragments observed corresponded to the multiples of 180 base
pairs which are characteristic of apoptosis. In vivo, the use of eith
er the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone, or the glucocorticoid rece
ptor antagonist RU-38486, was able to block completely the morphine me
diated increase in thymocyte apoptosis. In vitro experiments in which
thymocytes were cultured with morphine concentrations as high as 10(-4
) M showed no evidence of an increased rate of DNA fragmentation. Thes
e data indicate that both opiate and glucocorticoid receptors are invo
lved in morphine-induced apoptosis and that the opiate receptor respon
sible is not located on the thymic lymphocytes.