Naloxone decreases tolerance to hypotensive, hypovolemic stress healthy humans.

OBJECTIVE

In animal studies, naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist, improves tolerance to hemorrhagic shock. The purpose of this study was to determine whether naloxone would augment tolerance to hypotensive hypovolemic stress (lower body negative pressure [LBNP]) in healthy human males.

DESIGN

This study was a repeated measures design.

SETTING

The experiments were conducted in a laboratory setting.

SUBJECTS: Eight healthy male subjects were tested. The subjects' ages were 30 +/- 4.0 yrs, height = 177 +/- 7.0 cm, and weight = 75.5 +/- 3.5 kg (mean +/- SEM).

INTERVENTIONS: Subjects underwent two LBNP exposures terminated by the onset of vasodepression. At each of the exposures, using a double-blind procedure, the subjects received an intravenous injection of either saline placebo or naloxone in a dosage totaling 0.4 mg/kg.