Naloxone suppression and morphine enhancement of voluntary wheel-running activity in rats

This study examines the effects of the opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone, and the agonist, morphine, on voluntary wheel-running activity (WR) in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given 1-h access to a running wheel under non-deprived conditions. Naloxone injections (1.0, 0.5, or 0.25 mg/kg, ip), administered immediately before access to running wheels, dose-dependently suppressed WR. In another experiment, subjects were given 6-h access to running wheels under nondeprived conditions for 5 consecutive days. Morphine injections (2.0 mg/kg, se) were found to increase WR after an initial suppression. These data demonstrate that naloxone inhibits WR, while morphine both suppresses and enhances WR depending on time and dose. These are in agreement with data on other behaviors that indicate that endogenous opioid systems play a major role in the mediation of motivational behaviors. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.