Whole Brain Cellular Activation After Mu and NOP Receptor Agonism Identifies Differential Regional and Network Consequences

Abstract

Mu opioid agonists, the most widely used opioids, produce analgesia, respiratory depression, constipation, and reward leading to substance abuse. Like all opioid receptor family members, mu receptors are Gi/o-coupled and inhibitory, yet mu-mediated disinhibition of GABAergic neurons propagates downstream activation that differs between naive and dependent animals and across receptor subtypes. Here we used TRAP2/Ai9 reporter mice, which deposit tdTomato in active neurons via the c-Fos locus, with tissue clearing and light sheet microscopy to map whole-brain neuronal activation after acute morphine (10 mg/kg), an escalating twice-daily morphine regimen producing dependence, or the NOP receptor agonist Ro 64-6198. Despite Gi/o coupling, all treatments raised global activation relative to vehicle, though this whole-brain increase reached significance only in males, and acute morphine engaged the largest number of regions, all increased with none decreased. Sex differences were prominent: males were more sensitive than females across treatments, with morphine engaging mainly pain- and reward-related midbrain circuitry in males and hypothalamic circuitry in females. In dependent mice, activation was lower across several regions, including a cluster of cerebellar regions that trended toward being turned off relative to acute morphine. NOP receptor activation produced a far weaker profile. Although chronic morphine produced less activation than acute morphine, it produced more widespread co-activation, and while hub composition differed across conditions, global network organization was preserved. These results reveal whole-brain changes in neuronal activation and establish a TRAP2/Ai9 model that renders activated regions genetically accessible for future site-directed investigation.