[Met]Enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 is an opiate-like peptide normally found in the the adrenal gland and brain that has analgesic (antinociceptive) activity when administered directly into the cerebral ventricles of mice. On a molar basis, [Met]-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7, with a median effective dose (ED50) of 38.5 nmol/mouse, is 8 times more potent than [Met]enkephalin. As with [Met]enkephalin, analgesic ac...

Our previous study showed that Coriandrum sativum (CS) has antinociceptive effects, but the mechanisms that mediate this effect are not clear. The present study was designed to test the role of opiate system in the antinociceptive effects of CS on acute and chronic pain in mice using Hot Plate (HP), Tail Flick (TF) and Formalin (FT) tests and also to compare its effect with dexamethasone (DEX) ...

Although only a partial mu-opiate agonist, buprenorphine can be abused and diverted from medical therapy to the illicit drug market. A combination of buprenorphine and naloxone for sublingual administration may discourage diversion and abuse by precipitating opiate withdrawal when taken parenterally. Because opiate-abusing populations are not homogeneous and have varying levels of opiate depend...

The authors used rats to study the impact of a history of opiate exposures on behavioral and autonomic responses to restraint stress. Brief restraint (30 min) provoked tachycardia and a pressor response, anxiety (as indexed by social interaction), grooming, and reduced exploration. The pressor response was reduced at 1 day, but not 7 days, after last opiate exposure; tachycardia was unaffected ...

Patients with symptoms of opiate withdrawal, after the administration of opiate antagonist by paramedics, are a common presentation in the emergency department of hospitals. Though most of opiate withdrawal symptoms are benign, rarely they can become life threatening. This case highlights how a benign opiate withdrawal symptom of hyperventilation led to severe respiratory alkalosis that degener...

addiction to the illicit and prescribed use of opiate is an alarming public health issue. studies on addictive disorders have demonstrated severe nutritional deficiencies in opiate abusers with behavioral, physiological and cognitive symptoms. opiate addiction is also link with a significant number of diseases including human immunodeficiency virus (hiv), hepatitis c virus (hcv) and other blood...

Endogenous opiate peptides can regulate neuroendocrine and circulatory responses to behavioral stress and may be important in the pathogenic effects of sympathoadrenal reactivity. We tested this hypothesis by examining the effect of the opiate antagonist naloxone on blood pressure responses to behavioral stress in young adults with high, medium, or low casual blood pressures. Naloxone increased...

Studies concerning drugs of abuse have made major contributions in defining the circuitry, as well as cellular and molecular substrates that underlie certain behaviors. Opiate drugs for example, have revealed important insights concerning pain perception and reward. Up to the late 1960s, opiate drugs were suspected to work by mysteriously perturbing lipid membrane structure. We now know the fol...