Our previous studies have shown that morphine withdrawal induced hyperactivity of cardiac noradrenergic pathways. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of morphine withdrawal on site-specific tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) phosphorylation in the rat left ventricle. Dependence on morphine was induced by a 7-day s.c. implantation of morphine pellets. Morphine withdrawal was precipitated on day 8 by an injection of naloxone (2 mg/kg, s.c.). TH phosphorylation was determined by quantitative blot immunolabelling using phosphorylation state-specific antibodies. Ninety min after naloxone administration to morphine-dependent rats there was an increase in phospho-Ser40-TH (139.0 +/- 13%, P < 0.05) and Ser31-TH (135.5 +/- 11%, P < 0.05) in the left ventricle which is associated with both an increase in total TH levels (114.4 +/- 4.6%, P < 0.05, P < 0.01) and an enhancement of TH activity (51.0 +/- 11 dm/microg protein, P < 0.001). When HA-1004 (40 nmol/day), inhibitor of cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase (PKA) was infused, concomitantly with morphine, it diminished the increase in noradrenaline (NA) turnover, total TH expression (95.76 +/- 4.1 %, P < 0.01) and TH phosphorylation at Ser40 (85.5 +/- 11%, P < 0.01) in morphine-withdrawn rats. In addition, we showed that the ability of morphine withdrawal to stimulate phosphorylation at serine 31 is reduced (101.7 +/- 7.7%, P < 0.05) by SL327 (100 mg/kg, i.p.), an inhibitor of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation. The present findings demonstrate that the enhancement of total TH expression and the increase of the phosphorylation state of TH during morphine withdrawal are dependent on PKA and ERK and suggest that these transduction pathways might contribute to the activation of the cardiac catecholaminergic neurons in response to morphine- withdrawal.