A Comparative Study on the Effects of Morphine on Central, Peripheral and Ganglionic Stores of Catecholamines

Karoum, Farouk, Richard Jed Wyatt and Erminlo Costa: A comparative study on the effects of morphine on central, pa-ripheral and ganglionic stores of catecholamines. J. Pharma-col. Exp. Ther. 216: 321-328, 1981. The turnover and metabolism of catecholamines after i.p. ad-ministration of 1 0 (low dose) or 40 (high dose) mg/kg of morphine sulfate were measured in the brain, lumbar spinal cord, heart, celiac and superior cervical ganglia (SCG) of demedullated rats with unilaterally decentralized SCG. Demo-dullatlon significantly increased norepinephrine concentration and turnover in both sham operated and decentralized SCG, but demedullation failed to change the turnover of dopamine (DA) in both ganglia. Low doses of morphine only increased DA metabolism in the caudate nucleus. High doses of morphin