[Afobazole decreases severity of morphine withdrawal syndrome: experimental evidence]

Abstract

Effect of afobazole upon morphine dependency has been studied in rats upon the administration of incremental doses of morphine (10-20 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 days. The state of dependency was evaluated by monitoring sixteen specific behavioral indices of "spontaneous" (24 h after the last morphine injection) or naloxone-induced withdrawal syndrome. The effect of afobazole (a single dose of 5 mg/kg injected before the test or subchronically for 5 days) was estimated through its influence upon the total index of withdrawal syndrome, which was calculated using the set of behavioural signs. It is established that afobazole upon either single or subchronic injections significantly decreased the expression of spontaneous morphine withdrawal syndrome. The effect was also statistically significant but less pronounced in the case of naloxone-induced withdrawal syndrome. The obtained data suggest that afobazole can be considered as potential effective drug for the correction of various clinical symptoms of morphine withdrawal syndrome.