Intrathecal morphine reduces infarct size in a rat model of ischemia-reperfusion injury

Systemically-administered morphine reduces infarct size in rat models of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion. We sought to determine whether much smaller doses of spinally-administered morphine offer a similar cardioprotective benefit. Barbiturate-anesthetized, open-chested, Wistar rats with chronic indwelling thoracic intrathecal catheters were instrumented for hemodynamic measurements and subjected to 30 min of coronary occlusion and 90 min of reperfusion. Myocardial infarct size was determined using triphenyl-tetrazolium staining. Rats were randomly assigned to receive intrathecal (IT) 0.9% saline (vehicle), IV morphine (0.3 mg/kg) plus IT saline, small-dose IT morphine (0.3 mug/kg), or large-dose IT morphine (3 mug/kg) 20 min before occlusion. IV and both doses of IT morphine reduced infarct size, defined as area of necrosis expressed as a percentage of area at risk (%AN/AAR), as compared with vehicle. The %AN/AAR group means were as follows: IV (n = 7), 30% +/- 6%; ITsmall-dose (n = 9), 30% +/- 5%; ITlarge-dose (n = 9),18% +/- 4%; and vehicle (n = 10), 47% +/- 5%. There were no significant differences in infarct size among the morphine-pretreated rats. During ischemia-reperfusion, heart rate was unchanged from baseline in the ITlarge-dose group, whereas in the ITsmall-dose, IV and vehicle groups, significant declines in heart rate occurred. Changes in arterial blood pressure were similar among groups. These results indicate that IT morphine reduces infarct size in rats, and this benefit is as great as that provided by IV morphine administration.