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Morphine Withdrawal Syndrome Responses to Cholinergic Antagonists and to a Partial Cholinergic Agonist

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Abstract

MORPHINE impairs the release of acetylcholine (ACh) at muscarinic and nicotinic sites in the periphery1–3, and within the brain4–8. Paton9 suggested that morphine's ability to impair ACh release might be the origin of the morphine withdrawal reaction. He proposed that ACh could accumulate within cholinergic terminals during habituation to the narcotic and then flood out onto cholinoceptive tissues when the drug is withdrawn, giving rise to opiate withdrawal symptoms. He later10 outlined the autonomic imbalance seen during narcotic abstinence, and suggested that supersensitivity might develop in cholinergic receptors during morphine habituation, as a result of the deprivation due to impaired release.

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Author notes

  1. R. C. A. FREDERICKSON

    Present address: The Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46206

  2. A. J. VAZQUEZ

    Present address: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The Chicago Medical School, Institute for Medical Research, Chicago, Illinois, 60612

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E OW3

    C. PINSKY, R. C. A. FREDERICKSON & A. J. VAZQUEZ

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  1. C. PINSKY
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  2. R. C. A. FREDERICKSON
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  3. A. J. VAZQUEZ
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PINSKY, C., FREDERICKSON, R. & VAZQUEZ, A. Morphine Withdrawal Syndrome Responses to Cholinergic Antagonists and to a Partial Cholinergic Agonist. Nature 242, 59–60 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/242059a0

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