Drug addiction requires associative learning processes that critically involve hippocampal circuits, including the opioid system. We recently found that acute and chronic stress, important regulators of addictive processes, affect hippocampal opioid levels and mu opioid receptor trafficking in a sexually dimorphic manner. Here, we examined whether acute and chronic stress similarly alters the l...

Agonist-induced receptor phosphorylation is an initial step in opioid receptor desensitization, a molecular mechanism of opioid tolerance and dependence. Our previous research suggested that agonist-induced delta-opioid receptor (DOR) phosphorylation occurs at the receptor carboxyl terminal domain. The current study was carried out to identify the site of DOR phosphorylation during agonist stim...

Delta and mu opioid receptors (DORs and MORs) are inhibitory G protein-coupled receptors that reportedly cooperatively regulate the transmission of pain messages by substance P and TRPV1-expressing pain fibers. Using a DOReGFP reporter mouse we now show that the DOR and MOR are, in fact, expressed by different subsets of primary afferents. The MOR is expressed in peptidergic pain fibers, the DO...

Gene targeting was used to delete exon 2 of mouse DOR-1, which encodes the delta opioid receptor. Essentially all 3H-[D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (3H-DPDPE) and 3H-[D-Ala2,D-Glu4]deltorphin (3H-deltorphin-2) binding is absent from mutant mice, demonstrating that DOR-1 encodes both delta1 and delta2 receptor subtypes. Homozygous mutant mice display markedly reduced spinal delta analgesia, but pepti...

The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ; http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp) maintains and provides archival, retrieval and analytical resources for biological information. The central DDBJ resource consists of public, open-access nucleotide sequence databases including raw sequence reads, assembly information and functional annotation. Database content is exchanged with EBI and NCBI within the framework of th...

BACKGROUND Association between esophageal achalasia/ gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and cholelithiasis is not clear. Epidemiological data are controversial due to different methodologies applied, the regional differences and the number of patients involved. Results of concomitant cholecistectomy associated to surgical treatment of both diseases regarding safety is poorly understood. A...

OBJECTIVE To compare the results of open and laparoscopic fundoplication. DESIGN Nonrandomized controlled study with a 3-year follow-up. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty-seven consecutive patients with erosive reflux esophagitis underwent laparoscopic (30 patients) or open (27 patients) fundoplication. INTERVENTIONS Interview by an independent person. In addition, 52 patients (91%) underwent po...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Opioids and opiates inhibit gastrointestinal functions via μ, δ, and κ receptors. Although agonists of the δ opioid receptor (DOR) suppress motility and secretion, little is known about the localization and regulation of DOR in the gastrointestinal tract. METHODS We studied mice in which the gene that encodes the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was inserted into Op...

OBJECTIVE To analyze nurses' knowledge and practices regarding pain management of newborns admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units. METHOD A descriptive and cross-sectional study. Data were collected from 51 nurses based on an adapted questionnaire aimed at evaluating knowledge and practices regarding the management of neonatal pain in six hospitals in Curitiba and its Metropolitan Region. ...

sex-linked mutant deep orange (dor) of Drosophila melanogaster is T z o n s i b l e for a peculiar type of female sterility: mutant females produce no progeny when crossed to mutant males but yield some offspring (heterozygous daughters) when mated to wild-type males (MERRELL 1947). The effects of this mutant on embryonic development have been extensively studied by COUNCE (1956a) and more rece...