Methadone maintenance has been evaluated since its development in 1964 as a medical response to the post-World War II heroin epidemic in New York City. The findings of major early studies have been consistent. Methadone maintenance reduces and/or eliminates the use of heroin, reduces the death rates and criminality associated with heroin use, and allows patients to improve their health and soci...

BACKGROUND Opiate dependence is a major health and social issue in many countries. A mainstay of therapy has been methadone maintenance treatment, but other treatments, particularly buprenorphine, are increasingly being considered. AIM To conduct a systematic review to synthesise and critically appraise the evidence on the effectiveness of community maintenance programmes with methadone or bu...

INTRODUCTION Methadone has been used as a drug to detoxify opioid tolerance. Naloxane precipitated morphine withdrawal behaviours were attenuated by venlafaxine as an antidepressant. On the contrary, after detoxifying the opioids, spontaneous withdrawal syndrome may occur with pain sensitivity. Therefore the present study aimed to examine the effects of chronic methadone (70 mg/kg, in drinking ...

Methadone is a μ-opioid receptor agonist widely used in the treatment of narcotic addiction and chronic pain conditions. Methadone is metabolized predominantly in the liver by cytochromes P450 to its pharmacologically inactive primary metabolite 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine. Initial in vitro data suggested that CYP3A4 is the major isoform responsible for the in vivo clearan...

Methadone is often invoked for detoxification and maintenance of the opioid addict. We have developed and validated a sensitive and specific method for the analysis of methadone and its metabolites, 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3, 3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and 2-ethyl-5-methyl-3,3-diphenylpyrroline (EMDP), in human plasma, urine, and liver microsomes. This assay uses a solid-phase extraction. S...

BACKGROUND Directly administered antiretroviral therapy (DAART) in methadone clinics has the potential to improve treatment outcomes for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected injection drug users (IDUs). METHODS DAART was provided at 3 urban methadone clinics. Eighty-two participants who were initiating or reinitiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) received supervised dos...

BACKGROUND The heritability of opioid use disorder has been widely investigated; however, the influence of specific genes on methadone treatment outcomes is not well understood. The association between response to methadone treatment and genes that are involved in substance use behaviors and reward mechanisms is poorly understood, despite evidence suggesting their contribution to opioid use dis...

UNLABELLED Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is the standard of care during pregnancy for opioid-dependency, showing efficacy in improving prenatal care and reducing risk of relapse. By design, however, MMT is only intended to prevent withdrawal thus facilitating cognitive behavioural interventions. In order to maximize the benefits of MMT, it is essential that methadone is both properly pr...

Methadone is commonly prescribed for prevention of iatrogenic opioid abstinence syndrome (IOAS) in critically ill children. However, there is a paucity of data on the recommended initial dosage requirements. Data was retrospectively collected from January–December 31, 2008 and included demographics, methadone regimen, and IOAS symptoms. The primary objective was to determine the initial methado...

This study aims to assess whether the antinociceptive actions of methadone are mediated solely through opioid mechanisms, or whether its reported affinity for NMDA receptors has physiological relevance in vivo. Methadone is a mu-opioid receptor agonist reported to relieve pain unresponsive to other opioids. It is a racemic mixture comprising d- and l-optical isomers; the d-isomer has a lower af...