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Intrathecal nociceptin displaces a PET ligand for its receptor in the brain at analgesic doses in rhesus monkeys (658.1)
Author(s) -
Saccone Phillip,
Shao Xia,
Sherman Phillip,
Quesada Carole,
Woods James,
Winger Gail,
Kilbourn Michael,
Scott Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.658.1
Subject(s) - nociceptin receptor , nop , analgesic , medicine , pharmacology , anesthesia , neuroscience , receptor , chemistry , opioid , opioid peptide , psychology
The nociceptin receptor (NOP) has been investigated as a potential therapeutic target for pain control. Nociceptin, the endogenous ligand for NOP, produces analgesia in rodents and primates when given intrathecally (i.t.) (Ko et al. 2006, Xu et al. 1996). Recently NOP radiotracers have been developed for use with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) (Kimura et al. 2011, Hostetler et al. 2013). Although behavioral studies have shown that NOP agonists may be therapeutically useful, it is unknown whether nociceptin given i.t. binds to receptors supraspinally, and if so, which areas in the brain display the greatest ligand‐target interaction. The purpose of this study was to measure the amount of radiotracer displacement in the brain at NOP following an analgesic dose of nociceptin. Two female rhesus monkeys were anesthetized, and underwent PET scans with the NOP radiotracer 11C NOP‐1A. Eight minutes following tracer delivery, the monkey was injected i.t. with either saline or 100 nM nociceptin. Preliminary data show that 100 nM nociceptin delivered into the spinal canal displaces the radiotracer 11C NOP‐1A in a variety of brain nuclei. Prominent regions of displacement include the cortex, striatum, and thalamus. These data suggest that analgesia with NOP agonists can be produced with relatively low receptor occupancy and further supports NOP as a novel drug target for analgesia. Grant Funding Source : Supported by: The Michigan Memorial Pheonix Project and NIDA Traning Grant T32‐DA007281