Morphine tolerance is attenuated in germfree mice and reversed by probiotics, implicating the role of gut microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Prolonged exposure to opioids results in analgesic tolerance, drug overdose, and death. The mechanism underlying morphine analgesic tolerance still remains unresolved. We show that morphine analgesic tolerance was significantly attenuated in germfree (GF) and in pan-antibiotic-treated mice. Reconstitution of GF mice with naïve fecal microbiota reinstated morphine analgesic tolerance. We further demonstrated that tolerance was associated with microbial dysbiosis with selective depletion in Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillaeae. Probiotics, enriched with these bacterial communities, attenuated analgesic tolerance in morphine-treated mice. These results suggest that probiotic therapy during morphine administration may be a promising, safe, and inexpensive treatment to prolong morph

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6613141 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature