The interference of ethanol with heroin-stimulated psychomotor activation in mice is not related to changed brain concentrations of the active metabolites 6MAM or morphine.

It has been suggested that the potentiating effect observed in human beings when combining alcohol and heroin may be due to an interference of ethanol with the pharmacokinetics of heroin, leading to accumulation of the biologically active metabolites, 6-monoacetylmorphine (6MAM) and morphine. However, experimental evidence for this hypothesis is lacking. In this study, we used mice and examined the effect of ethanol on the metabolism of heroin by combining a locomotor activity test, which is a behaviour model representative of psychomotor stimulation, with pharmacokinetic studies in blood and brain tissue. Pre-treatment with ethanol (1 and 2.5 g/kg, po) affected heroin-stimulated (2.5 and 15 μmol/kg, sc) locomotor activation significantly, resulting in a dose-dependent reduction in run distance. However, the change in the activity profiles did not indicate any increase in the concentration of active metabolites. Pharmacokinetic studies in blood and brain supported the behavioural findings, showing no change in the time-versus-concentration curves of either 6MAM or morphine after administration of heroin (15 μmol/kg, sc) to mice pre-treated with ethanol (2.5 g/kg, po). The concentration of heroin itself was elevated, but is probably of minor importance because heroin has low biological activity by itself. The in vivo pharmacokinetic findings were supported by experiments in vitro. In conclusion, studies in mice do not support the hypothesis from epidemiological studies of a pharmacokinetic interaction between alcohol and heroin.