Activation of central mu-opioid receptors is involved in clonidine analgesia in rats.

The analgesic effect of clonidine in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and in normotensive Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats was assessed by using the formalin pain test. The analgesic response of SD rats to low doses (15-60 micrograms/kg i.p.) but not to a high dose (150 micrograms/kg i.p.) of clonidine was inhibited by naloxone, 2 mg/kg i.p., and similar interaction was noted in SHR. In both rat strains, the analgesic response to low i.p. doses of clonidine was also inhibited by injection of 5 micrograms of naloxone or 7 micrograms of beta-funaltrexamine, a mu-receptor antagonist, into the lateral cerebral ventricle. I.c.v. injection of 5 micrograms of ICI 174864, a delta-receptor antagonist, potentiated or did not influence clonidine analgesia in SD rats and SHR, respectively. It is concluded that the analgesic response to clonidine involves activation of central mu-opioid receptors in both SHR and SD rats, possibly by an endogenous opioid released by clonidine.