Dissociation of opioid and nonopioid analgesic responses following adult monosodium glutamate pretreatment

Neonatal administration of monosodium glutamate (MSG: 2-4 mg/g, SC) selectively destroys circumventricular organs, especially the arcuate nucleus and median eminence of the hypothalamus, and also attenuates both nonopioid (continuous cold-water swim: CCWS) and opioid (morphine) analgesia when rats are tested as adults. The present stude evaluated whether administration of MSG (1-6 g/kg, SC) or its equiosmotic control (2.37 M NaCl) to adult rats altered either basal nociception on the tail-flick and jump tests or analgesia following morphine (5 mg/kg, SC) or CCWS (2°C for 3.5 min). MSG treatment dose-dependently produced small but significant increases in basal nociceptive thresholds in adult rats. Morphine analgesia was significantly reduced on both tests following pretreatment with MSG (30-32%) and hypertonic NaCl (17-25%). In contrast, MSG (55-247%), but not NaCl pretreatment potentiated both nonopioid CCWS analgesia on both tests and CCWS hypothermia. These data are discussed in terms of differential neonatal and adult MSG effects, dissociations between opioid and nonopioid pain-inhibition, and the role of MSG in altering adaptive mechanisms to environmental stressors.