Buprenorphine is a potent, semi-synthetic opioid analgesic derived from thebaine. The drug displays the characteristics of an agonist at the mu receptors and antagonist at the kappa receptors. Although buprenorphine has shown some pharmacological effects on delta and kappa opioid receptors, the action on the mu receptors appears to be responsible for most of the analgesic effects associated wit...

Opiates have been used historically for the treatment of depression. Renewed interest in the use of opiates as antidepressants has focused on the development of kappa opioid receptor (κ-receptor) antagonists. Buprenorphine acts as a partial µ-opioid receptor agonist and a κ-receptor antagonist. By combining buprenorphine with the opioid antagonist naltrexone, the activation of µ-opioid receptor...

Concurrent use of cocaine and heroin is a major public health issue with no effective relapse prevention treatment currently available. To this purpose, a combination of buprenorphine and naltrexone, a mixed very-low efficacy mu-opioid receptor agonist/kappa-opioid receptor antagonist/nociceptin receptor agonist, was investigated. The tail-withdrawal and the conditioned place preference (CPP) a...

Twenty-six in-patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version IV (DSM-IV) criteria for opioid dependence were selected at random to receive either a combination of an 11-day low-dose buprenorphine and a 14-day carbamazepine regimen (n = 14) or a combination of an 11-day methadone and a 14-day carbamazepine regimen (n = 12) in a double-blind, randomized 14-day in-patient detoxification t...

background and aims: sexual dysfunction is a common complaint among drug abusers in the treatment with methadone and buprenorphine. the aim of this study was to assess sexual dysfunction in patients undergoing methadone or buprenorphine for maintenance therapy. methods: this research was a cross-sectional study. a 3-parts questionnaire (demographic questions, international index of erectile fun...

The opioid epidemic is an ongoing public health crisis. In North Carolina, overdose deaths due to illicit have sharply increased over the last 5-7 years. Buprenorphine a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved medication for treatment of use disorder obtained by prescription. Prior January 2023, providers had obtain waiver were limited in number patients that they could prescribe buprenorphi...

This is the first trial to compare the relationship of opioid plasma concentrations in methadone-versus buprenorphine-maintained subjects. Sixty subjects (19 females and 41 males) seeking treatment who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version IV (DSM-IV) criteria for opioid dependence were recruited and treated at the Drug Addiction Outpatient Clinic at the University of Vienna. Of these, ...

BACKGROUND Buprenorphine is a partial µ-opioid receptor agonist used for maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Because of the partial agonism and high receptor affinity, it may precipitate withdrawal symptoms during induction in persons on full µ-opioid receptor agonists. Therefore, current guidelines and drug labels recommend leaving a sufficient time period since the last full agonist u...

BACKGROUND Acute and chronic pain is prevalent in patients with opioid dependence. Lack of knowledge concerning the complex relationship between pain, opioid use, and withdrawal syndrome can account for the barriers encountered for pain management. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of sublingual (SL) buprenorphine for post-operative analgesia, compared with intravenous (IV) morph...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate and compare the characteristics of spinal block, its postoperative analgesic effects and side effects using intrathecal bupivacaine and its combination with fentanyl or buprenorphine in elderly patients undergoing urological surgery. METHODS Sixty patients aged sixty and above scheduled for elective transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) randomly received hyperbaric ...