Effects of morphine: an electrophysiological study on guinea-pig papillary muscle

Potential Antiulcer Agents From Plants: A Comprehensive Review

Background:

Peptic ulcer is a deep gastrointestinal erosion disorder that involves the entire mucosal thickness and can even penetrate the muscular mucosa. Nowadays, several plants and compounds derived from it have been screened for their antiulcer activity. In the last few years, there has been an exponential growth in the field of herbal medicine. This field has gained popularity in both developing and developed countries because of their natural origin and less side effects.

Objective:

This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of currently available knowledge of medicinal plants and phytoconstituents reported for their anti-ulcer properties.

Methods:

The worldwide accepted database like SCOPUS, PUBMED, SCIELO, NISCAIR, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Web of Science, Wiley, SciFinder and Google Scholar were used to retrieve available published literature.

Results:

A comprehensive review of the present paper is an attempt to list the plants with antiulcer activity. The review narrates the dire need to explore potential chemical moieties that exert an antiulcer effect, from unexploited traditional plants. Furthermore, the present study reveals the intense requirement to exploit the exact mechanism through which either the plant extracts or their active constituents exhibit their antiulcer properties.

Conclusion:

This article is the compilation of the plants and its constituents reported for the treatment of peptic ulcers. The Comprehensive data will surely attract the number of investigators to initiate further research that might lead to the drugs for the treatment of ulcers. As sufficient scientific data is not available on plants, most of the herbals cannot be recommended for the treatment of diseases. This can be achieved by research on pure chemical structures derived from plants or to prepare new lead compounds with proven beneficial preclinical in vitro and in vivo effects. However, a lot remains to be done in further investigations for the better status of medicinal plants.

Characterization of the opioid receptor subtypes mediating the negative inotropic effects of DAMGO, DPDPE and U-50, 488H in isolated human right atria strips

The present investigation was aimed at elucidating if mu-, delta- and kappa-opioid receptors are involved in the effects of DAMGO (selective mu-agonist), DPDPE (selective delta-agonist) and U-50,488H (selective kappa-agonist) in isolated electrically driven human right atria strips. The negative inotropic effects induced by the opioid agonists used in this study were not antagonized in presence of naloxone (preferentially mu-antagonist), naltrindole (selective delta-antagonist) and norbinaltorphimine (selective kappa-antagonist). These data suggest that the opioid receptors are not involved in the cardiac depressant effects induced by mu-, delta- and kappa-opioid agonists.

Diazoxide blocks the morphine induced lengthening of action potential duration on guinea-pig papillary muscle

1. Intracellular microelectrodes were used to evaluate the possible involvement of potassium currents in the action potential prolongation induced by morphine. To this purpose we investigated the electrophysiological effect of morphine on the isolated guinea pig right ventricular papillary muscle in the presence of the potassium channel opener and inhibitor diazoxide and glibenclamide respectively. 2. Diazoxide (1 microM), which is devoid of effect on its own, blocks the lengthening of action potential duration (APD) induced by morphine (5 mM). 3. However, in the presence of glibenclamide (1 microM), morphine (5 mM) prolonged APD in approximately the same proportion as that observed when used alone. 4. These results suggest that diazoxide but not glibenclamide sensitive potassium channels could mediate the APD prolongation induced by morphine.

Electrophysiological effects of opioid receptor selective agonists on guinea-pig papillary muscle

The cardiac electrophysiological effects of DAMGO, DPDPE and U-50,488H which are selective opioid agonists for mu, delta and kappa receptors, respectively, were studied in the isolated guinea-pig right ventricular papillary muscles. Neither DAMGO (5.10(-6)-5.10(-5)M) nor DPDPE (5.10(-6)-5.10(-5)M) produced any significant effect on the action potential characteristics. However, U.-50,488H (10(-5),5.10(-5) M) caused a concentration-dependent reduction in the maximum rate of depolarization of phase 0 (Vmax) and in the action potential duration measured at 50% repolarization, APD50 and 90% repolarization, APD90. At 5.10(-5) M it also produced a decrease of action potential amplitude (APA). These results suggest that the reported electrophysiological effects of U-50,488H on the cardiac muscle action potential, may be, at least in part, explained by a direct cardiac action.

Cardiac electrophysiological effects of U-50,488H on guinea-pig papillary muscle

Intracellular microelectrodes were used to study the electrophysiological effects of U-50,488H on guinea-pig papillary muscle. U-50,488H (10(-5) M) caused a significant decrease in the maximum rate of depolarization and a decrease in the action potential duration. At high concentration (5 x 10(-5) M) U-50,488H induced a significant decrease of resting potential, maximum rate of depolarization, action potential amplitude and the action potential duration. The administration of MR-2266 (5 x 10(-7) M) partially antagonized the cardiac electrophysiological effects of U-50,488H. These results suggest that the electrophysiological effects of U-50,488H may be partially due to an interaction with opioid receptors.

Interaction of U-50,488H with calcium channel agonists and antagonists in different cardiac tissues

1. The present study examined the interaction of U-50,488H (specific k-agonist) with diltiazem (calcium channel antagonist) or Bay K 8644 (calcium channel agonist) on isolated left and right atria of the rat. 2. The inhibitory effects of U-50,488H on left and right atria were unaffected by the k-receptor antagonist MR-2266 (10(-7) and 5 x 10(-7) M) suggesting that they were not mediated via opioid receptors. 3. The inhibitory cardiac effects induced by U-50,488H were antagonized in presence of Bay K 8644. The negative inotropic response to the maximum concentration of U-50,488H used in presence of two concentrations of Bay K 8644 (10(-9), 3 x 10(-9) M) were 19 +/- 0.9% and 9 +/- 0.1% reductions in contractility respectively. These values were significantly (P < 0.001) lower than that obtained with the k-agonist alone (76 +/- 3.6%). Similar results were obtained for the negative chronotropism of right atria. 4. The inhibitory effect of U-50,488H was potentiating in the presence of diltiazem (5 x 10(-8) or 10(-7) M). The IC50 values for U-50,488H obtained in the left (22 +/- 2 x 10(-6) M) and right atria (610 +/- 40 x 10(-6) M) were significantly (P < 0.001) decreased in the presence of diltiazem. 5. These data demonstrate that transmembrane calcium influx may play an important role in the inhibitory cardiac effects of U-50,488H, which may be independent of k-receptor stimulation.