Antagonism of the discriminative stimulus effects of the kappa-opioid agonist spiradoline.

This study compared the potency of mixed-action opioids (i.e., agonist-antagonists) and pure antagonists to block the discriminative stimulus effects of spiradoline, a kappa-opioid agonist. Rats were trained to discriminate between 3.0 mg/kg spiradoline and saline (SC) in a two-choice discrete-trial procedure. Graded doses of test drugs were administered in combination with 3.0 mg/kg spiradoline and the dose that reduced selection of the spiradoline-appropriate choice lever by 50% (AD50) was calculated. Ten drugs blocked the discriminative effects of spiradoline in an orderly dose-dependent manner. They spanned a 150-fold potency range from diprenorphine (5 times as potent as naloxone) to nalbuphine (0.03 times as potent as naloxone). Antagonism was stereoselective: 0.1-1.0 mg/kg (-)-N-allylnormetazocine (NANM) reduced spiradoline-appropriate responding by 50% whereas 3.0 mg/kg (+)-NANM did not. (-)-Pentazocine (0.1-10 mg/kg) and butorphanol (0.1-3.0 mg/kg) also did not block the discriminative effects of spiradoline. Antagonism was surmountable when graded doses of spiradoline were tested with a fixed dose of diprenorphine, naloxone, or levallorphan. Apparent pKB values derived from the interactions between those three drugs and spiradoline were in accord with relative antagonist potencies based upon the AD50s. Because the potency of a competitive antagonist is determined by its receptor affinity, the relative potencies of mixed-action opioids and pure antagonists in blocking the discriminative stimulus effects of spiradoline can provide an estimate of the relative in vivo affinities of these drugs for the kappa-opioid receptor.