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The role of mu-opioid receptors in the pathology of schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

T Money,
B Dean and
E Scarr
T Money
Affiliation:
The Mental Health Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
B Dean
Affiliation:
The Mental Health Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
E Scarr
Affiliation:
The Mental Health Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
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Abstract

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Information

Type
Abstracts from ‘Brainwaves’— The Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Annual Meeting 2006, 6–8 December, Sydney, Australia
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , December 2006, pp. 300
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

Background:

Decreased [3H]pirenzepine binding to cortical M1 receptors is a consistent finding in subjects with schizophrenia (Crook et al. Am J Psychiatry 2001, 158 918–925), but the mechanisms causing such decreases are unknown. Recently, low levels of cortical M1 receptors have been reported in mu-opioid receptor knockout mice (Yoo et al. Synapse 2004, 54 72–82), suggesting that receptor has a role in regulating levels of cortical M1 receptors. We have therefore determined levels of cortical mu-opioid receptors in three cohorts (1 = controls, 2 = schizophrenia with normal levels of [3H]pirenzepine binding, 3 = schizophrenia with low levels of [3H]pirenzepine binding) to determine if decreased mu-opioid receptors are associated with low levels of M1 receptors in schizophrenia.

Methods:

Western blotting with a rabbit anti-mu-opioid receptor antibody was used to measure the levels of mu-opioid receptor in Brodmann's area (BA) 9 from 20 subjects from each of the three cohorts described above.

Results:

There was no significant difference (P = 0.79) between levels of mu-opioid receptors in the controls (0.98 ± 0.10) and either of the two cohorts of subjects with schizophrenia (cohort 3: 1.01 ± 0.11, cohort 2: 1.01 ± 0.19).

Conclusions:

These data suggest that, at least in BA 9, the mu-opioid receptor is not altered in subjects with low levels of [3H]pirenzepine binding and probably does not play a direct role in the regulation of the muscarinic M1 receptor in subjects with schizophrenia.