Effect of morphine on resistance to infection

Abstract

Morphine was demonstrated to exacerbate infections. Experiments were performed to evaluate variations of phagocytic physiology during morphine treatment. In mice, morphine drastically reduced reticuloendothelial system activity, phagocyte count, phagocytic index, killing properties, and superoxide anion production in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages. Similar effects on alveolar macrophage count, phagocytosis, and killing were found in rabbits, a result which suggested a lack of species specificity. Additional experiments demonstrated that morphine (1) induces a reduction of lymphoid organ weight, (2) impairs the ability to eradicate infections and (3) is counteracted in its depressing activity on phagocytic physiology by small amounts of Corynebacterium parvum. The results suggest that there is a close relationship between the fact that morphine exacerbates infections and the fact that morphine depresses phagocytic functions; therefore, the negative effect of morphine on phagocytosis is at least one of the reasons for its negative effect on the development of infections.