Thousands of individuals die each year from opioid-related overdoses. While naloxone (Narcan®) is currently the most widely employed treatment to reverse opioid toxicity, high or repeated doses of this antidote often lead to precipitated opioid withdrawal (POW). We hypothesized that a slow linear release of naloxone from a nanoparticle would induce fewer POW symptoms compared to high-dose free naloxone. First, we measured the acute impact of covalent naloxone nanoparticles (Nal-cNPs) on morphine-induced antinociception in the hotplate test. We found that Nal-cNP treatment blocked the antinociceptive effect of morphine within 15 min of administration. Next, we tested the impact of Nal-cNPs on POW symptoms in male
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