Scientists are racing to redesign how powerful painkillers work, aiming to keep the relief that opioids provide while ...

Researchers at USF Health have discovered a new way opioid receptors can work that may lead to safer pain medications. Their findings show that certain experimental compounds can amplify pain relief ...

For decades, opioids have been the blunt instrument of modern pain care, powerful enough to quiet severe suffering yet risky ...

New research reveals previously unknown ways opioid receptors can function, opening the door to safer pain treatments.

This confocal microscope image shows midbrain neurons (red) co-expressing the mu-opioid receptor (Oprm1, white) and cannabinoid receptor 1 (Cnr1, green). The interaction of these two reward pathways ...

Distinct brain circuits drive two key components of addiction to the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, according to a new finding published in Nature (2024, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07440-x). The ...

Having a pill that alleviates chronic pain without adverse side effects or the risk of addiction remains an unmet pharmaceutical need for millions of people currently using traditional opioid drugs.

Scientists have known for decades that opioids relieve pain by binding to molecular switches in the brain called mu-opioid (pronounced "mew-opioid") receptors. What they didn't know - until now - was ...

When the season turns darker and colder, animals’ brown fat starts to grow. The tissue produces heat efficiently and rapidly, and regulates appetite. Brown fat is also present in people. In a new ...

Having a pill that alleviates chronic pain without adverse side effects or the risk of addiction remains an unmet pharmaceutical need for millions of people currently using traditional opioid drugs.