Pharmacodynamics and biophasic drug levels of methionine enkephalin.

Methionine enkephalin (Met-E) is a naturally occurring pentapeptide. It appears to mediate pain perception by blocking CNS pathways. Using rabbits, a log dose relationship was obtained between Met-E-induced dilation of the pupil (mydriasis) and constant intravenous infusion dose rates (14, 20, 28, 37, 56, 73, and 129 micrograms/min/kg). Steady-state dilation is reached within 9 min. Dose-effect curves (DEC) were fitted by a linear regression analysis of the log dose versus percentage dilation plots. Fitted DEC were used to determine temporal profiles for the relative biophasic drug level.