We investigated the mechanisms underlying the activation of endogenous opioids in placebo analgesia by using the model of human experimental ischemic arm pain. Different types of placebo analgesic responses were evoked by means of cognitive expectation cues, drug conditioning, or a combination of both. Drug conditioning was performed by means of either the opioid agonist morphine hydrochloride ...

Drug overdose death rates have increased steadily in the United States since 1979. In 2008, a total of 36,450 drug overdose deaths (i.e., unintentional, intentional [suicide or homicide], or undetermined intent) were reported, with prescription opioid analgesics (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone), cocaine, and heroin the drugs most commonly involved . Since the mid-1990s, community-b...

Intraperitoneal injections of naloxone hydrochloride (1, 2, 4, and 8 mg/kg) suppressed food intake in both normal and hypothalamic obese rats maintained on a 4-hr per day feeding schedule. The decrease in feeding was more pronounced in the animals with ventromedial hypothalamic lesions. Appetitively motivated feeding, i.e., the consumption of sweetened milk under nondeprived conditions, was als...

IMPORTANCE Although abuse of prescription opioids (POs) is a significant public health problem, few experimental studies have investigated the treatment needs of this growing population. OBJECTIVE To evaluate, following brief stabilization with a combination of buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride dihydrate, the relative efficacy of 1-, 2-, and 4-week buprenorphine tapering ...

AIM The feasibility of transdermal delivery of naloxone, an opioid antagonist, by anodal iontophoresis patches using Ag/AgCl electrodes was investigated. METHODS To examine the effect of current strength, species variation and drug concentration on skin permeability of naloxone, in vitro skin permeation studies were performed using rat dorsal skin and porcine ear skin as the membrane. To dete...

IT HAS BEEN XaEt'ORTED that, when administered alone, the hvo clinically available narcotic antagonists, nalorphine hydrochloride (Nalline) 1-7 and levallorphan tartrate, 8-1~ have respiratory and circulatory effects similar to those of narcotics. When a third potent narcotic antagonist, naloxone hydrochloride, became available for experimental use, it seemed worthwhile to compare the respirato...

OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to clarify the analgesic effect of toad cake and toad-cake-containing herbal drugs. METHODS We counted the writhing response of mice after the intraperitoneal administration of acetic acid as a nociceptive pain model and the withdrawal response after the plantar surface stimulation of the hind paw induced by partial sciatic nerve ligation of the mice as a n...

OBJECTIVES We describe the development of the first community-based opioid overdose prevention and response program with naloxone distribution offered by a public health unit in Canada (Prevent Overdose in Toronto, POINT). PARTICIPANTS The target population is people who use opioids by any route, throughout the City of Toronto. SETTING The POINT program is operated by the needle exchange pr...

The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) was established to create a new paradigm for medication-assisted treatment of persons with opiate addiction in the United States. Before enactment of DATA 2000, the use of opioid medications to treat patients with opioid addiction was permissible only in federally approved treatment programs, ie, "methadone clinics." The only medications perm...

This study investigated the effect of bergamot essential oil (BEO) or linalool, a major volatile component of BEO, on the nociceptive response to formalin. Plantar subcutaneous injection of BEO or linalool into the ipsilateral hindpaw reduced both the first and late phases of the formalin-induced licking and biting responses in mice. Plantar subcutaneous injection of BEO or linalool into the co...