Fig. 3
Morphine downregulates E-cadherin expression in tumour samples via MOR. (a) Immunohistochemical analysis of in situ E-cadherin expression in tumour samples collected from female nude mice tumours (aged 4–6 weeks, n = 5). (b) Ki67-stained tissues demonstrated that morphine(1.5 mg/kg) promoted the proliferation of solid tumour cells, an effect that could be reversed by naloxone(0.1 mg/kg). (c) Images and (d) quantification of Western blot showing the expression of E-cadherin and p-mTOR, mTOR, p-AKT, AKT, p-PI3K and PI3K in tumour samples following treatment with 1.5 mg/kg morphine. (e) Nude mice (n = 5) were euthanized at the end of the experiment (Day 28), and images of the dissected tumours from five representative female nude are shown. Scale bar: 1 cm. (f, g) Subcutaneous xenograft tumour weight (g) and tumour volume (cm3) were measured at the end of the experiment. The statistical data for tumour weight and volume represent the average ± SD of five independent experiments (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001).
