[Mechanism of morphine-induced suppression of central nervous system blood flow].

Narcotic agonists such as morphine are well known to decrease cerebral blood flow and metabolism. To investigate a possible mechanism for this action of narcotics, cerebral blood flow (CBF) and spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) were simultaneously measured by the hydrogen clearance technique following intravenous or subarachnoid administration of morphine and subsequent naloxone in lightly anesthetized dogs. The effects of new opiate agonist + antagonists, cyclazocine and buprenorphine, alone or in a combination with naloxone on those CNS blood flow were also investigated. Morphine, 1 mg/kg iv, produced significant decreases in both CBF and SCBF (p less than 0.01), which were reversed by naloxone, 40 micrograms/kg. Naloxone per se did not produce any change in both. Cyclazocine, 50 micrograms/kg iv, also produced significant decreases in both CBF and SCBF (p less than 0.05), but the decreased CBF was not reversed by naloxone. Buprenorphine, 30 micrograms/kg, showed variable changes in both CBF and SCBF, resulted insignificant reduction. However, spinal subarachnoid administration of morphine, 0.2 mg, with which profound analgesia can be obtained in human adults, did not cause any changes in SCBF as well as CBF. These results suggest that narcotic analgesics affect SCBF similar to CBF and morphine decreases CNS blood flow via the activation of supraspinal opiate receptors.