Dexamethasone and stress-induced analgesia.

Analgesia induced in rats by cold-water swim stress and measured by the tail-flick and hot-plate methods was significantly antagonized after IP pretreatment for 3 days with 8 mg/kg dexamethasone. The analgesia developed by the cold-water swim stressor was also attenuated by 1 mg/kg naloxone. These results suggest that the corticosteroids may have a role in modulating stress-induced analgesia and that the adrenal-pituitary axis modulates the endogenous opiate system. These conclusions are based on recent reports that indicate the release of the opiate-like peptide beta-endorphin and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) from the pituitary are increased by acute stress and inhibited by administration of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone.