Nociceptin (orphanin FQ) is a novel, opioid-like, heptadecapeptide that is an endogenous ligand for the opioid receptor-like (ORL 1 ) receptor. Unlike classical opioids, nociceptin can produce hyperalgesia when injected intracerebroventricularly into mice. Despite this, nociceptin has been reported to decrease transmitter release, activate an inwardly rectifying K ϩ conductance, and suppress high-voltage-activated Ca 2ϩ channel conductances (HVA g Ca ) in much the same way as -, ␦-, and -opioids. We report an action of nociceptin that is not shared by morphine: the suppression of low-voltage-activated, transient calcium (barium) current (I Ba,T ) in acutely dissociated rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons (EC 50 ϭ 100 nM). This effect was reflected as inhibition of bursts of action potentials that can be evoked in "medium-sized" DRG neurons. Experiments with GTP-␥-S (100 M), GDP--S (2 mM), or aluminum fluoride (AlF 3 ) (100 M) in the patch pipette failed to provide evidence for G-protein involvement in nociceptin-induced I Ba,T suppression. By contrast, both morphine and nociceptin suppressed HVA g Ca , and the latter response was affected by intracellular GTP-␥-S, GDP--S, and AlF 3 in ways that confirmed G-protein involvement. The selective effect of nociceptin on I Ba,T may therefore be relevant to understanding why its behavioral actions differ from those of other opioids. This G-proteinindependent effect of the action of nociceptin may reflect a new general mechanism of action for opioid peptides within the nervous system.
Key words: LC132 receptor; neuropathic pain; sympathetic ganglion; orphan receptor; enkephalin; endorphin; spinal cord; afterdepolarization; anticonvulsantThe heptadecapeptide nociceptin (orphanin FQ) is an endogenous ligand for the opioid receptor-like (ORL 1 ) receptor (Meunier et al., 1995;Reinscheid et al., 1995;Nothacker et al., 1996). This substance has attracted considerable attention, because unlike conventional opioids it does not produce analgesia when injected intracerebroventricularly into mice; in fact, nociceptin produces hyperalgesia in a tail-flick assay (Meunier et al., 1995;Reinscheid et al., 1995). Despite this, the cellular actions of nociceptin appear similar to those of -, ␦-, and -opioids. Opioids suppress neurotransmitter release (Jessell and Iversen, 1977;MacDonald and Nelson, 1978; Cherubini and North, 1985;Hori et al., 1992;, and -, ␦-, or -opioids attenuate high-voltage-activated C a 2ϩ channel conductances (HVA g C a ) (Hescheler et al., 1987;Surprenant et al., 1990;Schroeder et al., 1991; Moises et al., 1994a,b;Womack and McC leskey, 1995) and activate an inwardly rectif ying K ϩ conductance ( g K IR ) (North et al., 1987;Williams et al., 1988;Grudt and Williams, 1993). Similarly, nociceptin suppresses transmitter release in the periaqueductal gray matter and in the superficial dorsal horn of neonatal rat spinal cord (Liebel et al., 1997). It also inhibits H VA g C a in hippocampal neurons (Knoflach et al., 1996) and in a neuroblastoma cell line (Connor e...