Gc. Harris et G. Astonjones, BETA-ADRENERGIC ANTAGONISTS ATTENUATE SOMATIC AND AVERSIVE SIGNS OF OPIATE WITHDRAWAL, Neuropsychopharmacology, 9(4), 1993, pp. 303-311
The current studies were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of bet
a-adrenergic antagonists on opiate withdrawal symptoms utilizing a var
iety of paradigms. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were made moderately depen
dent on morphine with daily incremental injections. Both the nonselect
ive beta-antagonist propranolol and the selective beta1-antagonist ate
nolol, in the dose range of 5 to 20 mg/kg, were found to significantly
reduce many of the somatic responses to either naloxone-precipitated
or abstinence-induced withdrawal from morphine. In addition, propranol
ol (10 mg/kg) significantly reduced a withdrawal-induced conditioned p
lace aversion, while atenolol was effective only at the highest dose t
ested (20 mg/kg). These data indicate that beta-adrenergic antagonists
might be effective in the treatment of opiate addictions.