BACKGROUND Consumption of chronic morphine induces neuro-inflammation and addictive seeking behavior. Ginger (Zingiber Officinale Roscoe), a well-known spice plant, has been used traditionally in the treatment of a wide variety of ailments. It has been shown that ginger has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and antinociceptive properties. However, its influences on morphine-induced addictive be...

Repeated treatment of psychotropic drugs produces changes in brain and behavior that far outlast their initial neuropharmacological effects. The nature of persistent drug-induced neural plasticity is of interest because it is thought to contribute to the development of drug dependency and addiction. To determine if chronic morphine treatment alters the morphology of visual cortical neurons, we ...

Patients with controlled background pain associated with cancer frequently also experience episodes of moderate to severe intensity breakthrough pain. Opioid pharmacotherapy, particularly with oral morphine, remains the cornerstone for the management of cancer pain. Nasal administration of opioids provides a mechanism for more rapid drug absorption and more rapid onset of pain relief compared w...

Introduction: The relation between morphine and nitric oxide release has been shown. Due to important role of nitric oxide in regulation of skin blood flow, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NAME) and nitric oxide synthesis precursor (L-arginine) on skin blood flow of intact and morphine-dependent rats. Methods: Skin blood flow of hind pa...

Background: The amygdala is one of the nerve centers involved in drug reward. It is suggested that the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is involved in morphine dependency. The CeA gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) system is a mediator of morphine rewarding effects. In this research, the effects of stimulation or inhibition of CeA GABA type B (GABAB) receptors on sensitization acqui...

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of oral morphine in relieving the sensation of breathlessness in patients in whom the underlying aetiology is maximally treated. DESIGN Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled crossover study. SETTING Four outpatient clinics at a hospital in South Australia. PARTICIPANTS 48 participants who had not previously been treated with opioids (mean age 76,...

BACKGROUND Long-term exposure to opiates induces physical dependence; however, the neurobiological mechanisms of this phenomenon are not completely clear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of systemic and intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of selegiline (a selective inhibitor of monoamine oxidase B) on the morphine withdrawal syndrome in rats. METHODS To this aim...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of conducting double-blind controlled randomized clinical trials using twice-a-day immediate-release oral diacetylmorphine (DAM) in heroin-dependent patients, by means of measuring the capacity of oral DAM to block opiate withdrawal and clinicians' ability to distinguish it from morphine and methadone. This was a randomized, phase II, double...