and dependence, at least in in vivo systems. The recent cloning of these receptors has enabled more penetrating Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry Yale University School of Medicine analyses (Mansour et al., 1995), which could yet reveal alterations related to opiate addiction. For example, ex-New Haven, Connecticut 06508 posure to agonist in vitro elicits receptor desensitization and down-regu...

Buprenorphine has been stated a drug of low abuse potential and often used therapeutically in the management of opiate addicts. An analysis of 2 1/2 years' experience of opiate addiction cases at a de-addition clinic revealed its increasing rate of abuse, especially as a substitute for heroin.

The discovery of the opiate receptors in the central nervous system of man and subsequent identification of endogenous opiate-like ligands (enkephalins and endorphins) has provided a model for the analgesia, euphoria and addiction produced by the narcotics. In this article, the author reviews the background, biosynthesis and degradation, distribution, nociceptive transmission and analgesic effe...

Opiate addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder that is characterized by compulsive drug taking, an inability to limit intake, and bouts of intense drug craving that can be precipitated by the mere presence of people, places, or objects previously associated with drug use. Although knowledge of the neural mechanisms that underlie the transition from casual drug use to addiction is still in...

By Arthur Falek, Ph.D. What is known about the genetic aspects of opiate addiction? Opiates such as heroin and dilaudid are drugs which have long been known to relieve or depress pain but increased consumption frequently result in uncontrolled drug use and addiction. These properties of opiates led to the discovery that there are specific opiate receptors in the brain and that the central nervo...

Both pre-clinical and clinical studies make feasible the use of vaccines as novel therapeutic medications to treat drug addiction. No reports to date have shown the development of structural models of opiate candidate vaccines for treating human addiction to such compounds. Here we report on the initial development of a novel structural formulation of a bi-valent vaccine against morphine/heroin...