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Science 28 October 1977:
Vol. 198. no. 4315, pp. 411 - 414
DOI: 10.1126/science.910136
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Articles

Science, Vol 198, Issue 4315, 411-414
Copyright © 1977 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

beta-Endorphin: endogenous opiate or neuroleptic?

DS Segal, RG Browne, F Bloom, N Ling, and R Guillemin

The opiatelike neuropeptide beta-endorphin produces a spectrum of effects that contrasts with that induced by the neuroleptic haloperidol. Rats injected intraventricularly or directly into the periaqueductal gray with beta-endorphin (0.5 to 50 micrograms) exhibited rigid immobility accompanied by the loss of righting reflex; the period of rigidity was preceded or followed (depending upon dose) by a state of hyperactivity. In contrast, no dose of haloperidol tested (0.5 to 12 milligrams per kilogram) produced rigidity, loss of righting reflex, or behavioral excitation. Furthermore, whereas animals injected with haloperidol remained stationary on a vertical grid, rats injected with beta-endorphin typically slid off the grid. Moreover, combined beta-endorphin and haloperidol treatment produced flaccidity in most animals. These results do not support the contention that this opiatelike peptide may be a naturally occurring neuroleptic.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Short-term Naloxone Administration in Schizophrenic and Manic Patients: A World Health Organization Collaborative Study.
D. Pickar, F. Vartanian, W. E. Bunney Jr, H. P. Maier, M. T. Gastpar, R. Prakash, B. B. Sethi, R. Lideman, B. S. Belyaev, M. V. A. Tsutsulkovskaja, et al. (1982)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 39, 313-319
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Naloxone-Induced Behavioral and Physiological Effects in Normal and Manic Subjects.
L. L. Judd, D. S. Janowsky, D. S. Segal, and L. Y. Huey (1980)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 37, 583-586
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Basic and Clinical Studies of Endorphins.
W. E. BUNNEY Jr., C. B. PERT, W. KLEE, E. COSTA, A. PERT, and G. C. DAVIS (1979)
Ann Intern Med 91, 239-250
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Improvement of Schizophrenic Patients Treated With Des-Tyr1]-{gamma}-endorphin (DT{gamma}E).
W. M. A. Verhoeven, H. M. van Praag, J. M. van Ree, and D. de Wied (1979)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 36, 294-298
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Different brain areas mediate the analgesic and epileptic properties of enkephalin.
H Frenk, B. McCarty, and J. Liebeskind (1978)
Science 200, 335-337
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