Dog cerebral cortex contains mu-, delta- and kappa-opioid receptors at different densities: apparent lack of evidence for subtypes of the kappa-receptor using selective radioligands.
The biochemical and pharmacological properties of mu (mu), kappa (kappa) and delta (delta) opioid receptors were ascertained in dog cerebral cortex homogenates. The selective peptides, [3H]D-Pen2-D-Pen5enkephalin [( 3H]DPDPE) and [3H]D-Ala2-MePhe4-Glyol5-enkephalin [3H]Glyol; [3H]DAMGO), bound to delta- and mu-opioid receptors with high affinity (dissociation constants, Kd values = 4.7 and 1.6 nM) but to different densities of binding sites (Bmax values of 49.2 and 6.6 fmol/mg protein, respectively) in washed homogenates of dog cerebral cortex. In contrast, the non-peptides, [3H]U69593 [( 3H]U69) and [3H]etorphine [( 3H]ET), labeled a high concentration of kappa-opioid receptors (respective Bmax values of 67.2 and 76.6 fmol/mg protein) of high affinity (respective Kds of 1.4 and 0.47 nM) in the same tissue homogenates. Thus, the relative rank order of opioid receptor densities was: kappa greater than delta much greater than mu. The selective labeling of the kappa-receptors with two different drugs [( 3H]U69 and [3H]ET) failed to reveal the possible existence of multiple kappa-sites based on the relative Bmax values of the two radioligands. This conclusion was further supported by the similarity of the pharmacological specificity of both [3H]U69 and [3H]ET binding, where all the opioids tested produced 100% inhibition of these labels and where the rank order of potency of opioids at inhibiting the binding of these probes was: U50488 greater than U69593 greater than dynorphin-(1-8) greater than naloxone much greater than morphine much greater than Glyol (DAMGO) greater than DPDPE.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)