Comparative binding of mu and delta selective ligands in whole brain and pons/medulla homogenates from rat: affinity profiles of fentanyl derivatives.

The comparative binding characteristics of the mu opioid receptor selective ligand [3H]-[D-Ala2-MePhe4-glyol5]enkephalin [( 3H]-DAGO) and of the delta receptor ligand [3H]-[D-Pen2, D-Pen5]enkephalin[( 3H]-DPDPE) have been studied in homogenates of both whole brain and of pons/medulla regions from the rat. The receptor affinities of five 4-anilinopiperidine drugs (fentanyl derivatives) and of morphine have been determined by inhibition studies, using [3H]-DAGO and [3H]-DPDPE as markers of the mu and delta opioid binding sites, respectively. The concentration of delta opioid sites in pons/medulla was found to be approximately one third that of mu sites. The concentrations of both mu and delta sites in whole brain were similar to that of mu sites in pons/medulla. The rank order of affinities of the unlabelled drugs was dissimilar at the mu and delta sites. The most potent fentanyl derivatives exhibited negligible preference for the mu or delta sites, in contrast to the least potent compound, alfentanil which showed an extremely high mu-site selectivity.