Results from a small study suggest ketamine’s antidepressant effects may require activation of the brain’s opioid system.

A King’s College London study shows ketamine’s antidepressant effect depends partly on the brain’s opioid system. Blocking ...

"Positive Allosteric Modulation of the Mu-Opioid Receptor Produces Analgesia with Reduced Side Effects." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (First published: April 20, 2021) DOI: 10. ...

Dysregulated kappa‐opioid receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex contribute to working memory deficits in alcohol dependence. Addiction Biology, 2022; 27 (2) DOI: 10.1111/adb.13138 ...

Opioid receptors are of major medical interest because opioids influence pain perception. (Shutterstock) A worldwide team of experts investigated the molecular mechanisms of these active compounds.

They said they discovered how specific natural opioid peptides recognize and activate these receptors. In some experiments, they also used drug-like compounds to see how they activated the receptors.

Patients with fibromyalgia got no more pain relief from low-dose naltrexone than from placebo in a randomized trial, researchers said, dashing hopes that the opioid receptor antagonist might ...

Researchers have revealed a previously unknown function of opioid receptors in the development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), often referred to as the 'brain in the gut.' This discovery ...