Time-Dependent Disruption of Morphine Tolerance by Electroconvulsive Shock and Frontal Cortical Stimulation

Abstract

Electroconvulsive shock or frontal cortex stimulation administered to rats at 5 but not at 180 minutes after an initial administration of morphine sulfate disrupted the development of one-trial tolerance to the analgesic effects of morphine sulfate. It is suggested that development of tolerance may be mediated by cellular mechanisms and memory processes similar to those thought to underlie conventional learning.

The role of predrug signals in morphine analgesic tolerance: Support for a Pavlovian conditioning model of tolerance.

“…For example, Cochin (1972) suggested that "a reaction analogous to memory" (p. 265) may be important in tolerance development because the phenomenon occurs with very long intervalseven 1 yr-between drug administrations. 1 Other investigators have provided evidence that a variety of manipulations, known to be effective in retarding many types of learning, similarly retard the development of morphine analgesic tolerance, and have suggested that sueh findings indicate a parallel between learning and tolerance; these manipulations include electroconvulsive shock (Kesner, Priano, & DeWitt, 1976;Stolerman, Bunker, Johnson, Jarvik, Krivoy, & Zimmermann, 1976), electrical stimulation of the frontal cortex (Kesner et al, 1976), and administration of a variety of metabolic inhibitors (e.g., Cohen, Keats, Krivoy, & Ungar, 1965). Furthermore, administration of pituitary vasopressin facilitates both the acquisition of some learned responses and the acquisition of morphine tolerance (see Krivoy, Zimmermann, & Lande, 1974).…”

Role of habituation and classical conditioning in the development of morphine tolerance.

“…Acquired morphine tolerance is not always persistent (Huidobro, Huidobro-Toro, & Way, 1976). Morphine tolerance can be acquired even in nondistinctive environments (Kesner, Priano, & DeWitt, 1976).…”

An analysis of addictions from a mindful/mindless perspective.

“…The response strengthens with repeated exposures or trials, and it can be extinguished (Goudie & Demellweek, 1986). Furthermore, electroshock treatment that interferes with normal learning also retards the development of morphine tolerance acquisition (Goudie & Demellweek, 1986; Kesner, Priano, & DeWitt, 1976). Not surprisingly, it appears that learning principles are involved in addiction.…”