Comparison between C-FOS Expression in Male and Female Mice During Morphine Withdrawal in the Presence and Absence of Acute Administration of Matricaria Recutita

Background: There are some evidences that indicate there are sexual differences in drug abuse
and response to synthetic and herbal drugs. It has been shown that the expression of C-FOS
increases in many areas of brain during morphine withdrawal. Concerning the sedative effect of
Matricaria recutita extract, the aim of this study was to compare expression of C-FOS transcription
factor during morphine withdrawal with and without acute administration of Matricaria recutita on
male and female adult mice.
Materials and Methods: This study was done at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in 2007 on
NMRI mice. Male and female mice were assigned into 8 groups (morphine + saline; morphine +
naloxone; morphine + Matricaria recutita + naloxone; and morphine + saline + naloxone). To
develop morphine dependency, increasing doses of morphine (20, 40, 80 mg/kg injected
subcutaneously) for 4 days. Mice received a final morphine injection (40 mg/kg) 3hours prior to
naloxone (5 mg/kg) on the day of testing (day 4). Matricaria recutita extract whit a dose of 30
mg/kg was administered intraperitoneally 5 minutes before naloxone injection. In cellular study,
90minute after naloxone injection, mice were decapitated and their brains were separated, then
mRNA was extracted from brain tissue. Using DIG-labeled DNA probe of C-FOS, beta-actin and
dot blot technique, expression of C-FOS was analyzed by Zero Dscan software. Statistical
evaluation of data was performed using student t-test and ANOVA with one factor followed by
Duncan test in SPSS software. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The rate of expression of C-FOS increased in male mice but decreased significantly in
female mice after naloxone-precipitated abstinence) P<0.01) . Matricaria recutita attenuated the
rate of expression of C-FOS in male mice but it showed synergistic effect on it in female mice
( P<0.05) .
Conclusion: It seems that the cellular processes involving morphine dependency and response to
treatment with Matricaria recutita are sex dependent and are affected by sexual hormones.