To fi nd appropriate and effective treatment options for chronic pain syndromes is a challenging task. Multimodal treatment approach has been gaining acceptance for chronic pain. However, combining treatments, such as acupuncture, with rational pharmacology is still in its infancy. Acupuncture infl uences the opioid and cannabinoid system through releasing endogenous receptor ligands. Low dose ...

Background: Empathy is defined as the ability to simulate the mental states of others. Recent studies havedemonstrated empathy-like behaviors in other animals including rats and mice. The objective of the currentstudy was to evaluate the effect of acute administration of morphine and naloxone on cognition andnociception changes fo...

objective(s): neuropathic pain remains a clinical problem and is poorly relieved by conventional analgesics. this study was designed to determine whether maprotiline administration was effective in alleviating symptoms of neuropathic pain and whether the antinociceptive effect of maprotiline mediated through the opioid system. materials and methods: neuropathic pain was induced by chronic const...

The endogenous opioid peptides enkephalins, dynorphins and endorphins consist of five or more amino acids. These peptides participate in a multitude of biological functions in mammalian cells by interacting with different subtypes of opiate receptors located on the plasma membrane and in the nucleus. Here we report on the identification of a new peptide transport system in the human retinal pig...

introduction in spite of the increasing trend in opioid abusers worldwide, the prevalence of narcotic bowel syndrome (nbs) is undetermined. we aimed to estimate the prevalence of nbs and other opioid bowel dysfunction (obd) in opioid abusers in kerman, southeast iran. according to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the prevalence of nbs in opioid abusers. method by ref...

Abstract Objective To examine prevalence, demographic, and incident factors associated with opioid-positivity in Illinois suicide decedents who died by causes other than poisoning. Method Cross-sectional study of Illinois’ occurring between January 2015 December 2017. Data come from the National Violent Death Reporting System. We used Chi-square tests to compare decedent circumstance characteri...

Although far from conclusive, evidence implicating the endogenous opioid system in the development and maintenance of alcoholism is growing. Currently available data suggest that ethanol increases opioid neurotransmission and that this activation is part of the mechanism responsible for its reinforcing effects. Findings from preclinical research indicate that ethanol consumption and ethanol-ind...

Opioid receptors of the mu-, delta- and kappa-subtypes mediate the potent analgesic and addictive actions of opioid drugs. They also regulate responses to pain, stress and emotions when activated by endogenous opioid peptides. Recently, mice lacking opioid receptors or opioid peptides have been produced by gene targeting, providing molecular tools to study opioid function in vivo. Observations ...