摘要：SummaryMorphine is commonly used to relieve moderate to severe pain, but repeated doses cause opioid tolerance. Here, we used ATP sensor and fiber photometry to detect prefrontal ATP level. It showed that prefrontal ATP level decreased after morphine injection and the event amplitude tended to decrease with continuous morphine exposure. Morphine had little effect on prefrontal ATP due to its tolerance. Therefore, we hypothesized that the analgesic effect of morphine might be related to ATP in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Moreover, local infusion of ATP partially antagonized morphine analgesia. Then we found that inhibiting P2X7R in the mPFC mimicked morphine analgesia. In morphine-tolerant mice, pretreatment with P2X4R or P2X7R antagonists in the mPFC enhanced analgesic effect. Our findings suggest that reduction of prefrontal purinergic signaling is necessary for the morphine analgesia, which help elucidate the mechanism of morphine analgesia and may lead to the development of new clinical treatments for neuropathic pain.Graphical abstractDisplay OmittedHighlights•Prefrontal ATP is involved in the analgesic effect of morphine•Blocking P2X7R in the mPFC mimics morphine's analgesic effect•Blocking P2X4R or P2X7R in the mPFC enhances morphine analgesia in tolerant miceNeuroscience; Molecular Neuroscience; Clinical Neuroscience
