Patients who experienced pain after surgery were administered a single dose of 1 of 3 treatments: acetaminophen 1000 mg, codeine phosphate 60 mg, or a combination of these. Patients rated their pain intensity on ordinal and visual analog scales just prior to medication and at intervals thereafter for up to 5 hours. They also rated pain relief, pain half gone, and any adverse effects. Sum of pain intensity difference and total pain relief scores were analyzed using Dunnett's procedure. The drug combination was statistically superior to codeine as measured by SPID, TOTPAR, pain half gone, and time to remedication. The combination achieved better mean scores than acetaminophen on all efficacy measures, but was (marginally) statistically superior only in pain half gone. No appreciable differences in adverse effects were noted among the treatments. The difficulty of showing the analgesic efficacy of codeine in a single dose trial is discussed.

Acetaminophen↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Morphine and naloxone modulate intake of ethanol.

Rats, deprived of food and water for 18 hr, were given an opportunity to drink water and sweetened ethanol solution for 1 hr prior to being fed and watered for 5 hr, daily. One group received water and sucrose solution without ethanol and other groups received water and sucrose solution with 3, 6, 12 or 24% ethanol. Prior to some days' opportunities to drink, rats were injected with morphine (2.5 mg/kg), naloxone (10 mg/kg), or saline. Morphine increased intake of solutions containing ethanol as compared to intake under placebo. Naloxone reduced intakes of both fluids. Since morphine only increased sucrose solution intake when it contained ethanol, it was concluded that increments in opioid activity increase rats' avidity for ethanol.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Opioids, benzodiazepines and intake of ethanol.

Deprived rats were given the opportunity to take water or a sweetened ethanol solution for one hour/day. Across days, intake of the ethanol solution increased. Doses of morphine prior to an opportunity to drink increased avidity for the ethanol solutions, while doses of chlordiazepoxide did not. The opioid antagonist naloxone decreased intake, whereas, the benzodiazepine antagonist Ro 15-1788 failed to do so. These findings confirm that certain opioids can increase ethanol intake, and further specify that, under the same testing regimen, benzodiazepines do not reliably modify rats' propensity to drink a solution containing ethanol

Alcohol Drinking↗