The primary goal of postmarketing surveillance is to provide information for risk assessment of a drug. Drugs affecting the central nervous system form a unique group of products for surveillance because they are often misused, abused, and diverted. These medications include opioid analgesics, stimulants, sedative-hypnotics, muscle relaxants, anticonvulsants and other drug classes. Their advers...

Perioperative use of opioids has many detrimental effects on health care outcomes and is currently accelerating the worldwide epidemic opioid addiction prescription overdose death. Due to excessive their side effects, a new strategy was developed in order achieve balanced general anesthesia, namely opioid-free anesthesia (OFA). This technic can be used most surgeries using alternative analgesic...

The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed a continuing trend in the nonmedical use of prescription medications, notably opioid analgesics, which accounted for 75% of prescription drug non-medical use in 2006. In 2006, in response to this growing “pharmacoepidemic,” the Office of National Drug Control Policy set a goal of reducing past month prescription drug abuse by 15% ove...

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most widely used drugs for the management of acute and chronic pain. The role of the opioid system in the synergism between NSAIDs is not well characterized. Mice were injected with a 5% formalin solution (20 μl) into the upper right lip to perform an orofacial formalin test. The isobolographic method was used to determine the interac...

Opioids are a mainstay in acute pain management and produce their effects side (e.g., tolerance, opioid-use disorder immune suppression) by interaction with opioid receptors. I will discuss pharmacology some controversial areas of enquiry anaesthetic relevance. The main target is the µ (mu,MOP) receptor but other members family, δ (delta; DOP) κ (kappa; KOP) receptors also analgesic actions. Th...

Combined use of an opioid with a psychostimulant is popular among drug abusers. Such “polydrug use” may increase drug effects or attenuate adverse effects of either drug alone. We proposed that a combination of methamphetamine (meth) and morphine may change physical opioid withdrawal symptoms. Adult male rats were chronically injected with cumulative subcutaneous (s.c.) doses of morphine, meth ...

Buprenorphine (Subutex) and buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) received Food and Drug Administration approval in 2002 for the treatment of opioid dependence. Introduction of these drugs expanded the availability of opioid-dependence treatment options to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid abuse, and buprenorphine has become an increasingly prescribed component of office-bas...

Chronic pain is a major public health problem with limited treatment options. Opioids remain a routine treatment for chronic pain, but extended exposure to opioid therapy can produce opioid tolerance and hyperalgesia. Although the mechanisms underlying chronic pain, opioid-induced tolerance, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia remain to be uncovered, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is involved...

Opioid-induced sedation is a common dose-limiting side effect of opioid therapy that can be very distressing and sometimes is more difficult to manage than pain. Opioid-induced sedation may prohibit patients from participating in certain activities of daily living, which can be a source of considerable distress for patients and their families. The issue presents a therapeutic dilemma for health...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The effect of opioid medications on sleep architecture has been demonstrated in patients with comorbid pain or opioid addiction. This study examined whether commonly used opioid medications have an adverse effect on sleep architecture in healthy adults. METHODS Forty-two healthy subjects were examined with polysomnography after a bedtime dose of placebo, sustained-release mor...