TY - JOUR ID - 89553 TI - Role of Opioid System in Empathy-like Behaviours in Rats JO - Addiction and Health JA - AHJ LA - en SN - 2008-4633 AU - Nazeri, Masoud AU - Nezhadi, Akram AU - Shabani, Mohammad AD - Department of Neuroscience and Basic Sciences, School of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AD - Department of Neuroscience AND Neuroscience Research Center, Neuropharmacology Institute, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Y1 - 2019 PY - 2019 VL - 11 IS - 4 SP - 216 EP - 222 KW - Morphine KW - Empathy KW - Rats KW - Anxiety DO - 10.22122/ahj.v11i4.243 N2 - Background: Empathy is defined as the ability to simulate the mental states of others. Recent studies havedemonstrated empathy-like behaviors in other animals including rats and mice. The objective of the currentstudy was to evaluate the effect of acute administration of morphine and naloxone on cognition andnociception changes following observing conspecifics undergoing nociceptive stimulus.Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were used (n = 8 for each group). One cagemate received formalin injectioninto the hindpaw five times within a nine-day period and the other cagemate observed the pain while beingpretreated with saline, morphine, or naloxone [10 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (i.p.)]. Pain behaviors, anxiety-likebehaviour, locomotion, balance and muscle strength were evaluated in the observer animals.Findings: Observing a cagemate in pain increased anxiety-like behavior and reduced thermal pain threshold in theobserver animals. Administration of morphine reversed these effects and naloxone did not affect the responses.Conclusion: Results of the current study reveal an important role for opioid receptors (ORs) in empathy forpain, so that activation of this system dampens the empathy-like responses. UR - https://ahj.kmu.ac.ir/article_89553.html L1 - https://ahj.kmu.ac.ir/article_89553_91d5c9317e4b93368822ffa10d21761b.pdf ER -