Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 81 (3), 264 - 270 (1999)


Antinociceptive Effect and Enzymatic Degradation of Endomorphin-1
in Newborn Rat Spinal Cord

Azusa Sugimoto-Watanabe, Kazufumi Kubota, Kenji Fujibayashi and Koji Saito

Neuroscience and Immunology Research Laboratories, Sankyo Co., Ltd., 2 - 58, Hiromachi 1-chome, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140 - 8710, Japan

Abstract: Recently discovered endomorphin-1 and -2 are the first endogenous agonists selective for the ƒÊ-opioid receptor. We examined the antinociceptive effect and enzymatic degradation of endomorphin-1 in the newborn rat spinal cord. Endomorphin-1 inhibited the binding of [3H][d-Ala2, N-Me-Phe4, Gly-ol5] enkephalin (DAMGO) to the membrane fraction of the newborn rat spinal cord as potently as DAMGO and morphine. Endomorphin-1 at 1 - 1,000 nM reduced the slow ventral root potential, which reflects noxious transmission in the isolated newborn rat spinal cord, concentration-dependently via the ƒÊ-opioid receptor. A similar effect was observed with endomorphin-2. The newborn rat spinal cord homogenate degraded endomorphin-1 in a 120-min incubation procedure, while it degraded [Leu5]enkephalin even in a 30-min incubation procedure. The degradation of endomorphin-1 was inhibited by actinonin but not by thiorphan. These results showed that in the newborn rat spinal cord, endomorphins had high affinity for the ƒÊ-opioid receptor and exerted ƒÊ-opioid-receptor-mediated inhibitory effects on noxious responses. Endomorphin-1 was degraded by peptidases, but slowly compared with [Leu5]enkephalin degradation, and the degrading enzymes were actinonin-sensitive peptidases.

Keywords: Endomorphin-1 and -2, Enkephalin, Spinal cord, Slow ventral root potential, Enzymatic degradation


Copyright© The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1999

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