Enhanced anorectic potency of naloxone in rats sham feeding 30% sucrose: reversal by repeated naloxone administration.

The time-course of naloxone-anorexia was monitored in gastric-fistulated rats sham feeding sucrose (10%, 20%, 30%) solutions. Naloxone reduced sham intake dose dependently without affecting feeding initiation and in a manner which resembled the effects of progressive sucrose dilution. However, when rats sham fed 30% sucrose there was a 2-fold increase in the anorectic potency of naloxone. This exaggerated response was prevented by prior repeated naloxone treatment (5 mg/kg IP, bi-daily), concurrent with the stabilization of sham intake levels (4 days). A further experiment ruled out the possibility that tolerance develops to naloxone effects on this treatment schedule, since intact rats showed a suppression of wet mash consumption following repeated naloxone treatment which was equivalent to an acute naloxone challenge. It is proposed that 1) repeated sucrose sham feeding enhances opioid release and leads to opioid receptor adaptation (down-regulation); 2) repeated (chronic) naloxone treatments have an opposite effect on opioid receptors (up-regulation); 3) the two manipulations, in combination, counteract each other's effects. These behavioural data demonstrate dynamic changes in sham-feeding performance as a function of sucrose concentration and naloxone treatments, reinforce the importance of palatability in naloxone-anorexia, and support opioid involvement in orosensory reward.