Much research has focused on pathways leading to opiate addiction. Pathways opposing addiction are more difficult to study but may be critical in developing interventions to combat drug dependence and withdrawal. Galanin decreases firing of locus coeruleus neurons, an effect hypothesized to decrease signs of opiate withdrawal. The current study addresses whether galanin affects morphine withdra...

Neuroadaptations in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are associated with the development of drug addiction. Plasticity in synaptic strength and intrinsic excitability of NAc medium spiny neurons (MSNs) play critical roles in addiction induced by different classes of abused drugs. However, it is unknown whether morphine exposure influences synaptic strength, intrinsic excitability or both in NAc. Her...

Objective: It has been shown that berberine, a major component of Berberis vulgaris extract, modulates the activity of several neurotransmitter systems including dopamine (Da) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) contributing to rewarding and reinforcing effects of morphine. Drug craving and relapsing even after a long time of abstinence therapy are the most important problems of addiction. In the p...

cAMP response-element binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor involved in learning, memory and drug addiction, is phosphorylated by calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV). Here, we show that CaMKIV-knockout (KO) mice developed less analgesic tolerance after chronic morphine administration with no alteration in physical dependence or acute morphine-induced analgesia. The ...

objective(s):to determine the effect of acetylcholine (ach), pilocarpine, and atropine on pain evoked responses of pain excited neurons (pen) and pain inhibited neurons (pin) in hippocampal ca3 region of morphine addicted rats. materials and methods:female wistar rats, weighing between 230-260 g were used in this study. morphine addicted rats were generated by subcutaneous injection of increasi...

GluA1 subunits of AMPA glutamate receptors are implicated in the synaptic plasticity induced by drugs of abuse for behaviors of drug addiction, but GluA1 roles in emotional learning and memories of drug reward in the development of drug addiction remain unclear. In this study of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), which is critical in emotional learning of drug reward, we investigated ho...

introduction: nowadays opioids are gaining acceptance for the management of moderate to severe and chronic pain. in addition, a number of studies have shown that plasma levels of β-endorphin (βep) in exercise trained are higher than sedentary rats. in our study we assume that exercise training can reduce pain after withdrawal syndrome in morphine-dependent rats. methods: male wistar rats (250±2...

to be a Committee to consider and advise as to the circumstances, if any, in which the supply of morphine and heroin (including preparitions containing morphine and heroin to persons suffering from addiction to those drugs may be regarded as medically advisable, and as to the precautions which it is desirable that medical practitioners administering or prescribing morphin or heroin should adopt...

Addictive drugs like cocaine, ethanol, and morphine activate signal transduction pathways that regulate brain gene expression. Such regulation is modulated by the presence of certain transcription factor proteins present in a given neuron. This article summarizes the effects of several addictive drugs on transcriptional processes contributing to the development of a drug-dependent state. The ch...

The aim of this study was to observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on chronic morphine-induced neuronal morphological changes in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in rats at electron-microscopic level. Fourteen days of administering escalating doses of morphine induced pathological morphological changes of neurons in the VTA: the rough endoplasmic reticulum swelled, membrane configuratio...