Prolonged morphine application modulates Bax and Hsp70 levels in primary rat neurons

Morphine has been used for pain treatment with a long history. Some data suggest that morphine is toxic to neurons and induces apoptosis, while other evidence shows that morphine could have beneficial effects against cell death. To determine how morphine affects pro-apoptotic protein Bax and molecular chaperone Hsp70, different concentrations of morphine were examined. Our results show that prolonged morphine administration for 5 days at 1 μM concentration protects against serum deprivation induced cell death in rat primary neurons. Morphine treatment decreases Bax and Hsp70 levels in cultured rat primary neurons, suggesting morphine may have a protective role in staurosporine and serum deprivation induced cytotoxicity.