Naloxone efficacy in bladder rehabilitation of spinal cord injury patients

Effects of naloxone on regional norepinephrine content of the rabbit urinary bladder after electrical pelvic floor stimulation

OBJECTIVES

Effect of opioid blockade on regional norepinephrine content of the rabbit urinary bladder was investigated under electrical pelvic floor stimulation.

METHODS

Norepinephrine content of the bladder body and base of the rabbit was estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography in the following four subgroups: control group; group 1, treated by electrical stimulation; group 2, treated by naloxone alone; and group 3, treated by electrical stimulation and naloxone.

RESULTS

Intravenous administration of naloxone (group 2) caused depletion of norepinephrine content in the bladder body (P < 0.001). Norepinephrine content in the bladder base was also reduced, although this difference was not statistically significant. Electrical stimulation to the pelvic floor musculature (group 1) increased norepinephrine content both in the bladder base and the body (P < 0.01). Such a norepinephrine elevation disappeared in the rabbit treated by electrical stimulation plus naloxone (group 3). Norepinephrine content of this group was almost the same as those treated by naloxone alone.

CONCLUSIONS

Opioid blockade appeared to block the hypogastric nerve activation induced by electrical pelvic floor stimulation.

Endogenous opiates: 1987

This paper is the tenth installment of our annual review of the research during the past year involving the endogenous opiate system. It covers the nonanalgesia and behavioral studies of the opiate peptides published in 1987. The specific topics this year include stress; tolerance and dependence; eating; drinking; gastrointestinal and renal activity; learning, memory, and reward; cardiovascular responses; respiration and thermoregulation; seizures and other neurological disorders; electrical activity; locomotor activity; sex, pregnancy, and development; immunology and cancer; and other behavior.

Neurogenic disorders of micturition

Anatomic considerations of micturition are reviewed as well as the effects of lesions at various levels on the urinary system as a whole. Proper diagnostic approach, interpretation of results, and recommendations for therapy are outlined to aid the practitioner in handling neurogenic disorders of micturition.