Suppressive Effects of Rosa Damascena Essential Oil on Naloxone-Precipitated Morphine Withdrawal Signs in Male Mice

This research was done to test the effect of Rosa damascena essential oil on withdrawal signsof naloxone-precipitated morphine in male mice. Morphine dependence was induced by injection(IP) three times daily at doses of 50, 50 and 75 mg/kg, respectively, for 3 days. On day 4,after the last administration of morphine, Rosa damascena essential oil was administered atdifferent concentrations (5, 2 and 40%, IP) 30 min before administration of naloxone (5 mg/kg,IP). The following actions were taken as signs of withdrawal and records taken for jumping asa number and scores of 0 to 3 were given for incidences of grooming, teeth chattering, rearing,writing, diarrhea, wet dog shakes and climbing during a 30 min period. Results showed thatdifferent concentrations of Rosa damascena essential oil significantly reduced signs of morphinewithdrawal compared to the control group in terms of number of jumps (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01),grooming, teeth chattering, rearing, climbing, wet dog shakes and writhing, but not for diarrhea(p < 0.05). In conclusion it seems that GABAergic activity induced by flavonoids from Rosadamascena essential oil can alleviate signs of morphine withdrawal, but further studies need to bedone to better understand this mechanism.