Opiates are indispensable for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. The gastrointestinal tract is one of the major victims of the undesired effects of opiates, because the enteric nervous system expresses all major subtypes of opioid receptors. As a result, propulsive motility and secretory processes in the gut are inhibited by opioid analgesics, and the ensuing constipation is one of the m...

Among the various non-neuronal cell types known to express and utilize neuropeptides, those of the immune system have received much attention in recent years. In particular, comparative studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have shown that endogenous opioid peptides are engaged in receptor mediated autoregulatory immune and neuroendocrine processes. The majority of these immune processes are...

Pain management is a complex process that can involve a number of pharmacologic treatment modalities, including traditional pain medications (e.g., non-opioids and opioids) and adjunctive pharmacotherapy (e.g., anticonvulsants, antidepressants). Choosing an appropriate starting dose for an opioid, titrating opioid doses, using more than one opioid, and converting from one opioid to another are ...

Studies in rodents have shown that psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine cause endorphin release in the brain reward system. There is also evidence for the involvement of the opioid system in human psychostimulant dependence. The acute effects of an i.v. psychostimulant drug on the brain opioid system, however, have not yet been investigated in humans. We hypothesized that an i....

Beta-endorphin, deltorphin II, [D-Ala2, Phe4, Gly5-ol-enkephalin (DAGO) as well as endomorphin-1 and endomorphin-2 injected intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) induced gastroprotective action. It has been raised that endogenous opioids may have a central role in maintaining gastric mucosal integrity. Therefore we aimed to study the role of endogenous opioid system in the gastroprotective action ...

OBJECTIVE   Prescription opioid analgesics are commonly prescribed for moderate to severe pain. An unintended consequence of prescribing opioid analgesics is the abuse and diversion of these medications. Tapentadol ER is a recently approved centrally acting analgesic with synergistic mechanisms of action: μ-opioid receptor agonism and inhibition of norepinephrine reuptake. We assessed the amoun...

On August 15, 2016, the Mayor's Office of Drug Control Policy in Huntington, West Virginia, notified the Cabell-Huntington Health Department (CHHD) of multiple calls regarding opioid overdose received by the emergency medical system (EMS) during 3 p.m.-8 p.m. that day. A public health investigation and response conducted by the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (BPH) and CHHD identified 20...

Brain opioid innervation is involved in many pathophysiological processes related to drug addiction. The main idea of the present review is that μ-/δ-opioid innervation is an intrinsic component of the motor/approach behavior network, which is activated synergetically with dopaminergic mesocorticolimbic network. Contribution of opioid innervation to the motor/approach behavior processing includ...

There is growing evidence that tonic activity of the opioid system may be important in the modulation of affective state. Naloxone produces a conditioned place aversion in rodents, an effect that is centrally mediated. Previous pharmacological data using antagonists with preferential actions at mu-, delta-, and kappa-opioid receptors indicate the importance of the mu-opioid receptor in mediatin...