In vivo tracer studies of glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, and protein synthesis in naloxone precipitated morphine withdrawal.

Quantitative autoradiography of [14C]deoxyglucose, [14C]iodoantipyrine, and [14C]leucine was used to estimate regional cerebral glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, and cerebral protein synthesis, respectively, in rats during morphine dependence and withdrawal. Glucose metabolism was elevated in 19 of 26 selected brain regions; the elevations in glucose metabolism were similar when data were expressed as either optical density ratios or as calculated rate values of mumol/100 gm/min. Restraining the rats produced heterogeneous effects on glucose metabolism during morphine withdrawal (MW). Neither estimated cerebral blood flow nor cerebral protein synthesis were affected by morphine and/or naloxone treatments in either naive or morphine-dependent rats. The data demonstrate that changes in regional cerebral glucose utilization occur independently of blood flow changes and exclude the possibility that regional changes in glucose utilization occur as a consequence of large regional changes in protein synthesis rates in brain. These data confirm the utility of 2-deoxyglucose measures of MW as objective biochemical indices of opiate agonist and antagonist effects in vivo.