Opioids And Their Receptors

The interest in opioids such as morphine, the prototypical opioid ligand, has been maintained through the years. The identification of endogenous opioids and their receptors (mu, delta, kappa, and nociceptin), molecular cloning, and the elucidation of the crystal structures of opioid receptors represent key milestones in opioid research. The opioid system modulates numerous pharmacological responses, with therapeutic (i.e., analgesia) and detrimental side effects (i.e., addiction). The medical use and misuse of opioids have dramatically increased, leading to the 21st century opioid crisis. This book presents recent developments in opioid drug discovery, specifically in the medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of new ligands targeting the opioid receptors as effective and safe therapeutics for human diseases. Furthermore, it draws a special attention to advancing concepts and strategies in opioid drug discovery to mitigate opioid liabilities. The diversity among the discussed topics is a testimony to the complexity of the opioid system, which results from the expression, regulation, and functional role of ligands and receptors. The array of multidisciplinary research areas illustrates the rapidly developing basic research and translational activities in opioid drug discovery. This book will serve as a useful reference while also stimulating continued research in the chemistry and pharmacology of opioids and their receptors, with the prospect of developing improved therapies for human diseases, but also improving health and quality of life in general.

The Essence of Analgesia and Analgesics is an invaluable practical resource for clinicians giving pain relief in any clinical setting, describing the pharmacologic principles and clinical use of all available pain medications. As well as detailed overviews of pain processing and analgesic theory, sections are dedicated to oral and panteral opioid analgesics, neuraxial opioids, NSAIDs, local anesthetics, anticonvulsant type analgesics, NMDA antagonists, alpha adrenergic analgesics, antidepressant analgesics, muscle relaxants, adjuvant medications, and new and emerging analgesics. The concise format of the chapters allows for quick and easy reading and assimilation of information. Enhanced by summary tables and figures, each chapter provides an overview of a particular drug, covering chemical structure, mode of activity, indications, contraindications, common doses and uses, advantages and disadvantages, and drug related adverse events. Key references are also provided. Edited by leading experts in pain management, this is essential reading for any clinician involved in pain management.

This pocketbook summarizes the recent developments in this important and controversial aspect of pain management, looking at the benefits and adverse effects of opioids in non-cancer pain.

Comprehensive and authoritative, Opioid Receptors and Antagonists: From Bench to Clinic offers neuroscientists, pharmacologists and interested clinicians a unique survey of the extensive and diverse research efforts currently employed with opioid antagonists to develop novel innovative drug therapies. Summarizes the present understanding of the chemistry, pharmacology and molecular biology of opioid receptors and their subtypes Highlights differences and similarities between the opioid pharmacology of animals and human Describes current and potential therapeutic areas for opioid antagonists, including substance abuse, alcohol and ingestive behaviors, behavioral disorders and other medical indications, supported by nonclinical and clinical evidence Focuses on the development of exciting and innovative drug delivery approaches that are being used with opioid antagonists for the above medical indications

The rapidly burgeoning research of the past two decades on agonist-antagonist analgesics and opioid receptors makes this exhaustive review of opioid anal gesics particularly relevant and timely. After an introductory chapter the additional 12 chapters begin logically with morphine and congeners (4- epoxymorphinans) and end with opioid receptors. All principal chemical types of centrally acting analgesics (including endogenous opioid-like substances) and their antagonists as well as the mixed agonist-antagonists are treated thoroughly, although not always (and for good reason) in historical (chrono logical) order. A chapter on miscellaneous types (atypical structures for the most part) includes the benzimidazoles (etonitazene), aminotetralins (dezocine), tetrahydroisoquinolines (methopholine), and so on. Important aspects and correlations of chemistry, pharmacology, and biochemistry are discussed in depth. Literature citations are numerous. For educators, practicing laboratory scientists, and physicians, this scholarly review by two authors well of opioid analgesics versed in the chemistry, pharmacology, and biochemistry will be informative, stimulating, and thought-provoking. Everette L. May Medical College of Virginia Richmond, VA 23298 v Preface The history of opium predates the written word, although knowledge of its constituents dates back less than 200 years. Over the centuries its popularity for the relief of pain has waxed and waned, until today the opiates are widely recognized as excellent analgesics but with disadvantages that have impaired their use seriously. There is a clear need for a potent analgesic with minimal effects on the respiratory centers and gastrointestinal tract and preferably devoid of dependence liability.

The growth of the opiate field over the past decade has been enor mous. Initial interest focused upon the strategic clinical impor tance of morphine and its analogs, but the discovery of the enkephalins and the other endogenous opioid peptides with their widespread actions within brain has expanded the field to investi gators in almost all areas of neuroscience as well as pharmacol ogy. Unfortunately, this field of research with its vast literature has become progressively more complex. The receptors are no longer limited to opiates, but include many subtypes selective for the opioid peptides. Indeed, they might be better termed opioid, rather than opiate, receptors. Many controversies have emerged and been settled; others remain. Early studies must now be inter preted on the basis of current information. Thousands of papers examining various aspects of opiates and the endogenous opioids present separate pieces of a large puzzle. The goal of this volume is to put the pieces together to give a coherent overview of opiate receptor pharmacology and to provide insights into both the mo lecular and classical pharmacology of opiates and the opioid pep tides. The issue of multiple classes of opiate and opioid peptide re ceptors and their importance in understanding mechanisms of ac tion provides the major focus of the book. The study of opiates and opioid peptides provides a unique research opportunity in the neuropharmacology of drug receptors.

Opioid Receptors: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ eBook that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Opioid Receptors. The editors have built Opioid Receptors: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Opioid Receptors in this eBook to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Opioid Receptors: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

Advances in itch research have elucidated differences between itch and pain but have also blurred the distinction between them. There is a long debate about how somatic sensations including touch, pain, itch, and temperature sensitivity are encoded by the nervous system. Research suggests that each sensory modality is processed along a fixed, direct-line communication system from the skin to the brain. Itch: Mechanisms and Treatment presents a timely update on all aspects of itch research and the clinical treatment of itch that accompanies many dermatological conditions including psoriasis, neuropathic itch, cutaneous t-cells lymphomas, and systemic diseases such as kidney and liver disease and cancer. Composed of contributions from distinguished researchers around the world, the book explores topics such as: Neuropathic itch Peripheral neuronal mechanism of itch The role of PAR-2 in neuroimmune communication and itch Mrgprs as itch receptors The role of interleukin-31 and oncostatin M in itch and neuroimmune communication Spinal coding of itch and pain Spinal microcircuits and the regulation of itch Examining new findings on cellular and molecular mechanisms, the book is a compendium of the most current research on itch, its prevalence in society, and the problems associated with treatment.