Comparative effects of opiate agonists methadone, levorphanol, and their isomers on the release of cortical ACh in vivo and in vitro.

The effect of analgesically active opiate agonists dl-methadone, levorphanol, and their less active forms d-methadone and dextrorphan, respectively, were tested on, (a) the spontaneous release of cortical acetylcholine (ACh) in vivo; (b) the spontaneous and K+-evoked release of cortical ACh in vitro. The injections of dl-methadone, but not d-methadone, inhibited the output of ACh in vivo. Naloxone completely reversed this effect of methadone. Levorphanol in small doses inhibited, and in larger doses stimulated, the in vivo release of ACh. Both effects were antagonized by naloxone. Its dextroisomer dextrorphan was completely inactive. The in vitro release of ACh from cortical slices was inhibited by all four agents. The effects of analgesically active opiates dl-methadone and levorphanol on the in vitro release were not clearly separable from the effects of their inactive forms d-methadone and dextrorphan.