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PEPTIDES
endogenous opiates in learning and memory was high, em-
phasizing the role of endogenous opiates in brain reward
systems and thus had enormous clinical relevance for un-
derstanding opiate abuse. The role of endogenous opiates in
mediating cardiovascular function continued to be studied,
including the opiate receptor subtypes that mediate heart
rate and blood pressure. In addition, there were increased
attempts examining the role of endogenous opiates in car-
diovascular disease, in particular their possible protective
effects against infarct after ischemia. Research continued to
address opiate modulation of respiratory functions, and
there seemed to be more interest this year than last in
assessing the clinical safety of combining opiates with non-
opiates, in particular benzodiazepines. However, continuing
a trend observed in previous years, interest in opiate in-
volvement in thermoregulation was low.
The role of opiates in mediating seizure activity was
examined, and it was generally accepted that -agonists
were proconvulsive and -agonists were anticonvulsive.
Animal models were used to also examine opiate modula-
tion of other neurologic disorders, including traumatic brain
injury, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Inter-
est in opiate involvement in electrical-related activity re-
mained high in 1998. It included mostly the use of in vitro
preparations but also some in vivo. Although locomotor
activity was influenced by opiate agonists, the results were
inconsistent making any generalizations difficult. Studies of
endogenous opiates in sex and development remained high,
with particular interest this year in the ontogeny of opiate
systems during embryonic development. However, there
was little interest in the changes that occur during the aging
process. There was research on the effects of prenatal ex-
posure to opiates on development that should not only be of
concern for opiate abuse during pregnancy but also for
opiate pain control during pregnancy and labor. Although
there were exception, exogenous opiates were immunosup-
pressive, whereas endogenous opiates enhanced immune
function, indicating that they probably have different mech-
anisms of action. Opiate involvements in other behaviors
were also addressed, including scratching and smoking be-
havior.
2. Stress
Many stressors are known to interact with endogenous
opiate systems. In 1998, the physiological and behavioral
effects of a variety of stressors were elucidated, which
included forced swim [9,30,31,155,183,189,191], social
conflict and threat [184,410], foot-shock [199,248,368,442],
restraint [117,186,204,240,359,407], asphyxiation [424], in-
sulin-induced hypoglycemia [424], confinement and crowd-
ing [271], wheel running [176], electroconvulsive shock
[120], hypertonic saline injections [119], formalin injections
[387], physical exercise [147], mental arithmetic [107],