EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC ACTIVATION OF MU-OPIOID, DELTA-OPIOID AND KAPPA-OPIOID RECEPTORS ON THE SECRETION OF LUTEINIZING-HORMONE AND PROLACTIN IN THE OVARIECTOMIZED RAT

With the recent development of highly specific ligands for the .mu., .delta. and .kappa. opioid receptors it was of interest to define the effects of activation of each of these receptor types on LH and prolactin (PRL) secretion. The compounds were infused (10 .mu.l/h) at various concentrations into the third cerebroventricle of unanesthetized, ovariectomized rats. The .mu. agonist, DAGO, at both 1 and 10 .mu.g/h caused a significant suppression of LH secretion and a significant stimulation of PRL release. DPDPE, the .delta. agonist, had no effect on either hormone at 1 .mu.g/h but inhibited LH secretion at 10 .mu.g/h. There was still no effect of this high dose of DPDPE on PRL release. The .kappa. agonist, U50,488H, had no effect on either hormone at 10 .mu.g/h, but at 100 .mu.g/h produced a significant suppression of LH release and a highly variable increase in PRL. Coinfusion of 100 .mu.g/h of naloxone with the high dose of each of the agonists completely blocked the responses of both hormones to each of the agonists with one exception: the highly variable stimulation of PRL by U50,488H was not affected, thus indicating a nonspecific effect of U50,488H on PRL secretion. These results demonstrate that: (1) activation of the .mu. receptors produces an inhibition of LH secretion and a stimulation of PRL release; (2) activation of the .delta. receptors produces an inhibition of LH secretion but has no effect on PRL release, and (3) activation of the .kappa. receptors produced an inhibition of LH release and a variable stimulation of PRL secretion.