creators_name: Kristal, Mark B. creators_name: Thompson, A. C. creators_name: Grishkat, H.L. creators_id: kristal@buffalo.edu creators_id: creators_id: type: journalp datestamp: 2007-10-22 10:45:33 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:58 metadata_visibility: show title: Placenta ingestion enhances opiate analgesia in rats. ispublished: pub subjects: behav-neuro-sci full_text_status: public keywords: opiates, opioids, placentophagia, placenta, amniotic fluid, delivery, rat, POEF, naltrexone, analgesia, pain, tail-flick test, footshock, afterbirth, mammal abstract: Analgesia, produced by either a morphine injection or footshock, was monitored (using a tail-flick test) in nonpregnant female rats. Analgesia was induced within minutes of having the rats eat on of several substances. When the substance eaten was rat placenta, both the morphine- and shock-induced types of analgesia were significantly grater than in controls that ingested other substances (or nothing). When footshock (hind-paw) was administered in conjunction with the opiate antagonist naltrexone, the analgesia produced was attenuated but detectable; in this case, placenta ingestion did not enhance the analgesia, suggesting that the effect of placenta is specific to opiate-mediated analgesia. It is possible that this enhancement of analgesia is one of the principal benefits to mammalian mothers of ingesting placenta and birth fluids (placentophagia) at delivery. date: 1985 date_type: published publication: Physiology & Behavior volume: 35 number: 4 publisher: Pergamon Press pagerange: 481-486 refereed: TRUE citation: Kristal, Dr. Mark B. and Thompson, A. C. and Grishkat, H.L. (1985) Placenta ingestion enhances opiate analgesia in rats. [Journal (Paginated)] document_url: http://cogprints.org/5764/1/poef85.pdf