THE OPIATE RECEPTOR AND OPIOID PEPTIDES

Abstract

Understanding the mechanism of opiate action in analgesia, euphoria, and addiction may answer several fundamental questions in pharmacology. The development of a method for the detection of highly specific opiate receptors in 1973, opened the current era of explosively rapid progress in this field. The most recent  achievement is the isolation of endogenous peptides having morphine-like action from the brain. These peptides may act as CNS neurotransmitters, and Neurobiologists hope that they will shed light on normal brain mechanisms regulating pain, emotion and behavioural abnormalities like Schizophrenia.