Thyrotropin releasing hormone antagonizes beta endorphin hypothermia and catalepsy.

Injection of 30 μg β endorphin intraventricularly (ivt) in rats produced an alteration of body temperature, a state of catalepsy, and an increase in antinociceptive latencies. Subsequent ivt injections of 20 μg of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) reversed the ongoing changes in body temperature and catalepsy produced by β endorphin. Since TRH antagonized these effects in hypophysectomized rats, it is implied that these effects of TRH are independent of pituitary-thyroid involvement. In contrast to the above, TRH did $\text{not}$ alter the antinociception produced by β endorphin in either sham-control or hypophysectomized rats. The failure of TRH to antagonize all three of these opiate effects, as well as the inability of TRH to displace bound dihydromorphine from synaptic plasma membranes, suggests that the level of TRH-β endorphin interaction is not at the opiate receptor.