Inhibition of opioid release in the rat spinal cord by α2C adrenergic receptors

Neurotransmitter receptors that control the release of opioid peptides in the spinal cord may play an important role in pain modulation. Norepinephrine, released by a descending pathway originating in the brainstem, is a powerful inducer of analgesia in the spinal cord. Adrenergic α2C receptors are present in opioid-containing terminals in the dorsal horn, where they could modulate opioid release. The goal of this study was to investigate this possibility. Opioid release was evoked from rat spinal cord slices by incubating them with the sodium channel opener veratridine in the presence of peptidase inhibitors (actinonin, captopril and thiorphan), and was measured in situ through the internalization of μ-opioid receptors in dorsal horn neurons. Veratridine produced internalization in 70% of these neurons. The α2 receptor agonists clonidine, guanfacine, medetomidine and UK-14304 inhibited the evoked μ-opioid receptor internalization with IC50s of 1.7 μM, 248 nM, 0.3 nM and 22 nM, respectively. However, inhibition by medetomidine was only partial, and inhibition by UK-14304 reversed itself at concentrations higher than 50 nM. None of these agonists inhibited μ-opioid receptor internalization produced by endomorphin-2, showing that they inhibited opioid release and not the internalization itself. The inhibitions produced by clonidine, guanfacine or UK-14304 were completely reversed by the selective α2C antagonist JP-1203. In contrast, inhibition by guanfacine was not prevented by the α2A antagonist BRL-44408. These results show that α2C receptors inhibit the release of opioids in the dorsal horn. This action may serve to shut down the opioid system when the adrenergic system is active.