BackgroundThe effect of opioids on inflammation and immune responses is an important subject of investigation because immunoregulatory cytokines are produced in the central nervous system and opioid receptors are widespread in these cells.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of morphine on the C3 expression (both constitutive and proinflammatory cytokine-induced C3 expression) in primary rat astrocytes.MethodsPrimary rat astrocytes were untreated or treated with morphine in different concentrations (10–6 to 10–2 M) before incubation without or with 5 U/mL tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and C3 protein and mRNA expressions were measured. Similarly, astrocytes were treated with 10–3 M morphine and stimulated with other proinflammatory cytokines, including 10 ng/mL interleukin-8 (IL-8) and 5 U/mL IL-1β. Astrocytes were exposed to 10–5 M naloxone for 2 hours before adding morphine, and TNF-α and C3 protein was measured. Tumor growth factor-β (TGF-β) was measured from the supernatants of each proinflammatory cytokine.ResultsAll results are expressed as mean percentages of C3 production by normalizing C3 without morphine or any cytokine treatment as 100%. Constitutive C3 protein production was decreased at morphine 10–3 M (57.2%) and 10–2 M (30.1%). Pretreatment with morphine suppressed induction of C3 expression at both the protein and mRNA levels in astrocytes stimulated with TNF-α, IL-8, and IL-1β (P < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibition of C3 protein production by morphine (10–3 M; 33%) was partially attenuated by naloxone (52.0%) (P < 0.05). The pretreatment of astrocytes with morphine (10–3 M) before stimulation with TNF-α, IL-8, and IL-1β increased by 33% (P < 0.05), decreased by 15.2% (P < 0.05), and did not change the production of TGF-β protein, respectively.ConclusionsMorphine downregulated both constitutive and proinflammatory cytokine-induced C3 expression of astrocytes at the transcriptional level, but not in a cytokine-specific manner.