118 Results Found

An animal model of voluntary oral morphine consumption would allow for a pre-clinical evaluation of new treatments aimed at reducing opioid intake in humans. However, the main limitation of oral morphine consumption in rodents is its bitter taste, wh...

The cholinergic system has been proposed to participate in the development of dependence on opioids. The present study examined effects of dermal pretreatment with methyl parathion (MP), an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on the development of physic...

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists have been found to be effective to inhibit morphine dependence. However, the discovery of the selective antagonist for NMDAR GluN2B with low side-effects still remains challenging. In the present stud...

The ventral tegmental area (VTA), a critical portion of the mesencephalic dopamine system, is thought to be involved in the development and maintenance of addiction. It has been proposed that the dopaminergic regulatory factors TH, Nurr1, and Pitx3 a...

Topiramate evokes pharmacological activity via a blockade of voltage-dependent sodium channels, reduction in glutamate release, inhibition of AMPA receptors and kainate receptors, and potentiation of GABAergic neurotransmission. Therefore, it is used...

The opioid epidemic was triggered by an overprescription of opioid analgesics. In the treatment of chronic pain, repeated opioid administrations are required which ultimately lead to tolerance, physical dependence, and addiction. A possible way to ov...

Disturbances caused by excess or shortages of certain elements can affect the cerebral reward system and may therefore modulate the processes associated with the development of dependence as was confirmed by behavioural studies on animals addicted to...

Sinomenine is a nonaddictive alkaloid used to prevent morphine dependence, even thoughits mechanism isnot fully understood. Astrocytes aggravate the pathological process in their neighboring cellsthrough exosomes in central nervous system diseases. H...

(1) Background: Recent data indicate that receptors for GLP-1 peptide are involved in the activity of the mesolimbic system. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of the selective dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, l...

Chronic opioid intake leads to several brain changes involved in the development of dependence, whereby an early hedonistic effect (liking) extends to the need to self-administer the drug (wanting), the latter being mostly a prefrontal–striatal...

Drugs of abuse cause enduring functional disorders in the brain reward circuits, leading to cravings and compulsive behavior. Although people may rehabilitate by detoxification, there is a high risk of relapse. Therefore, it is crucial to illuminate...

Prolonged sedation in infants leads to a high incidence of physical dependence. We inquired: (1) “How long does it take to develop physical dependence to sedation in previously naïve full-term infants without known history of neurologic im...

Background/Objectives: Substance use disorders, particularly opioid addiction, continue to pose a major global health and toxicological challenge. Morphine dependence represents a significant problem in both clinical practice and preclinical research...

Postmortem redistribution (PMR) can result in artificial drug concentration changes following death and complicate forensic case interpretation. Currently, no accurate methods for PMR prediction exist. Hence, alternative strategies were developed inv...

Numerous G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) display ligand-free basal signaling with potential physiological functions, a target in drug development. As an example, the μ opioid receptor (MOR) signals in ligand-free form (MOR-μ*), influencing...

Physical dependence is associated with the formation of neuroadaptive changes in the central nervous system (CNS), both at the molecular and cellular levels. Various studies have demonstrated the immunomodulatory and proinflammatory properties of mor...

Opioids are commonly prescribed for clinical pain management; however, dose-escalation, tolerance, dependence, and addiction limit their usability for long-term chronic pain. The associated poor sleep pattern alters the circadian neurobiology, and fu...

Morphine, one of the most efficacious analgesics, is effective in severe pain, especially in patients with concomitant painful cancers. The clinical use of morphine may be accompanied by increased immunosuppression, susceptibility to infection and po...

Morphine is widely used as an analgesic in vertebrates, yet its cardiorespiratory safety and effective therapeutic range remain poorly explored in fish. This study investigated the dose-dependent effects of morphine on cardiac and respiratory paramet...

Chronic pain is a persistent and debilitating health problem. Although the use of analgesics such as opioids is useful in mitigating pain, their prolonged use is associated with unwanted effects including abuse liability. This study assesses the anti...

Among different approaches to the search for novel—safer and less addictive—opioid analgesics, biased agonism has received the most attention in recent years. Some μ-opioid receptor agonists with G protein bias, including SR compounds,...

Opioid use disorder is classified as a chronic recurrent disease of the central nervous system (CNS) which leads to personality disorders, co-morbidities and premature death. It develops as a result of long-term administration of various abused subst...

This study investigated temporal group-level changes in gut microbiome composition and fecal metabolic markers in Wistar rats following a 10-day administration of morphine. Fecal samples were collected at predefined post-discontinuation time points a...

One of the key strategies for effective pain management involves delaying analgesic tolerance. Early clinical reports indicate an extraordinary effectiveness of off-label disulfiram—an agent designed for alcohol use disorder—in potentiating opioid an...

Objective: Morphine is a widely used analgesic for severe pain, but tolerance is a major challenge in long-term pain management. This study examined the potential of Daflon^® to enhance morphine’s pain-relieving effects and to reduce toleran...

Several theories have been proposed to explain the mechanisms of substance use in schizophrenia. Brain neurons pose a potential to provide novel insights into the association between opioid addiction, withdrawal, and schizophrenia. Thus, we exposed z...

Despite their indisputable efficacy for pain management, opiate prescriptions remain highly controversial partially due to their elevated addictive potential. Relapse in drug use is one of the principal problems for addiction treatment, with drug-ass...

The link between substance abuse and the development of schizophrenia remains elusive. In this study, we assessed the molecular and behavioural alterations associated with schizophrenia, opioid addiction, and opioid withdrawal using zebrafish as a bi...

It is well accepted that treatment of chronic pain with morphine leads to μ opioid receptor (MOR) desensitization and the development of morphine tolerance. MOR activation by the selective peptide agonist, D-Ala2, N-MePhe4, Gly-ol]-enkephalin(DAMG...

Background/Objectives: Sepsis remains one of the most serious and possibly fatal complications encountered in intensive care units. Considering the frequent use of narcotic analgesics in this setting, we investigated whether the cardiovascular and pe...

Persistent pain can be managed with opioids, but their use is limited by the onset of tolerance. Ultramicronized N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA) in vivo delays morphine tolerance with mechanisms that are still unclear. Since glial cells are involved in...

Oxaliplatin, a chemotherapeutic drug for colorectal cancer, induces severe peripheral neuropathy. Bee venom acupuncture (BVA) has been used to attenuate pain, and its effect is known to be mediated by spinal noradrenergic and serotonergic receptors....

Morphine, a drug of abuse used to treat moderate-to-severe pain, elicits its actions by binding to the opioid receptors. Cocaine is an example of a recreational drug that inhibits dopamine reuptake. The molecular effects of morphine and cocaine have...

Recently, an old drug, disulfiram, has been shown to reduce cocaine intake by inhibiting dopamine beta (β)-hydroxylase. Its effectiveness was also reported in opioid treatment, as disulfiram attenuated morphine-induced tolerance and dependence....

HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders are prevalent despite antiretroviral intervention. Some HIV virotoxins, such as the trans-activator of transcription (Tat), are not targeted by antiretrovirals, and their neurotoxic actions may be exacerbated b...

In this work, the thermal degradation of tropane and opium alkaloids was studied in samples of breadsticks prepared with corn flour, contaminated with seeds of Datura stramonium, and containing seeds of Papaver somniferum L. A total of seven differen...

Background: Spinal anesthesia is considered the method of choice for elective cesarean sections; however, it is not without maternal–fetal risks. Materials and Methods: This study compared the effects on maternal hemodynamics of intrathecal adm...

Preemptive management of post-incisional pain remains challenging. Here, we examined the role of preemptive use of neuroactive steroids with activity on low-voltage activated T-type Ca²⁺ channels (T-channels) and γ-aminobutyric acid A (GABA_A) r...

Neuropeptide FF (NPFF) receptor antagonists prevent morphine-mediated antinociceptive tolerance, and compounds with dual mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonist and NPFF antagonist activity produce antinociception without tolerance. Compounds synthesized sh...

The pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPN) regulates the activity of dopaminergic cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). In this study, the role of opioid receptors (OR) in the PPN on motivated behaviors was investigated by using a model of fee...

Morphine plays a critical regulatory role in both simple and complex plant species. Dopamine is a critical chemical intermediate in the morphine biosynthetic pathway and may have served as a primordial agonist in developing catecholamine signaling pa...

Background/Objectives: Postoperative pain pharmacology is complex. We investigated the sensitivity of analgesic-like effects induced by morphine, ibuprofen, and their combination to peripheral opioid antagonism in a mouse laparotomy model. Methods: M...

Managing cancer-related pain poses significant challenges, prompting research into alternative approaches such as ketamine. This systematic review aims to analyze and summarize the impact of ketamine as an adjuvant to opioid therapy for cancer-relate...

Opiate withdrawal is followed by a protracted abstinence syndrome consisting of craving and physiological changes. However, few studies have been dedicated to both the characterization and understanding of these long-term alterations in post-dependen...

Wounding triggers complex secondary metabolic pathways in plants, including benzylisoquinoline alkaloid (BIA) biosynthesis in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.). This study explores transcriptional and metabolic responses to wounding and methyl jasm...

Opioid analgesics such as morphine have indispensable roles in analgesia. However, morphine use can elicit side effects such as respiratory depression and constipation. It has been reported that G protein-biased agonists as substitutes for classic op...

Recent studies demonstrate that 5-fluoro-2-oxindole inhibits neuropathic pain but the antinociceptive actions of this drug and its effects on the plasticity, oxidative and inflammatory changes induced by peripheral inflammation as well as on the effe...

Opioids are the most effective drugs used for the management of moderate to severe pain; however, their chronic use is often associated with numerous adverse effects. Some results indicate the involvement of oxidative stress as well as of proteasome...

The discovery of endogenous peptide ligands for morphine binding sites occurred in parallel with the identification of three subclasses of opioid receptor (OR), traditionally designated as μ, δ, and κ, along with the more recently defi...

The neurological effects of opium were first described over 8000 years ago. Morphine was isolated in 1803 and by the mid-1800s had become both a pain-relieving blessing and an addictive curse. As part of the crusade to identify safer and more reliabl...