To Make Opioid Painkiller without Tolerance

摘要

Opioid analgesics such as morphine are the most powerful and widely-used drugs to relieve pain in clinical treatment. They largely work through the mu-opioid receptors in the central nervous system, alleviating the perception of pain. But repeated application of the drugs within a certain period of time could lead to side-effects, like addiction and tolerance. In order to develop new effective painkillers with less side-effects, researchers strive to have a deeper understanding of the mechanism responsible for the analgesic efficacy of the drugs and the formation of their adverse effects. Through their studies on a neuropeptide called Substance P, a group of CAS scientists have unveiled a new mechanism for the regulation of opioid analgesia, the process to reduce the effect of pain with opioid analgesics. Their work was reported in the August 25 issue of the prestigious journal Cell.