Scientists have discovered new paths to morphine addiction treatment

recently, Li Xiaoming, a professor at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, discovered that there is a neural path line in the brain that regulates morphine addiction. For the first time, the study found two parallel inhibitory neural pathways from the abdominal back cover area to the middle seam back core. This study provides a new target for the treatment of opioid dependence, the possibility of long-term application of clinical morphine analgesics, and the theoretical basis for the clinical development of low-addictive analgesic drugs. The results were published in the international journal Neurons on 11 January.
morphine is an opioid with an average content of about 10 per cent in opium. According to the 2018 World Drug Report, opioids are the most deadly among drugs, accounting for 76 percent of drug deaths, and non-medical use of prescription drugs such as opioids is becoming a major threat to public health and law enforcement worldwide.
on the other hand, morphine is one of the most effective analgesics in the clinic, and the long-term use of the characteristics that produce tolerance greatly limits the clinical application of morphine. In order to better play the analgesm effect of morphine, reduce and block the harm of morphine addiction, it is necessary to conduct a more in-depth study of the mechanism of morphine's action.
in the brain, neural path paths refer to a group of neurons in one region of the brain that connect neurons to another, and activation and suppression of these path paths are a way for the brain to function.
the discovery of these two paths have anything to do with morphine addiction? The team found that specific expressions of morphine-like mops, which combine morphine in combination with MOPs, inhibited the pathway in the pathway that led to the mice's compulsive search for and intake of morphine.
Since the head-end abdominal back cover area to the mid-seam back core pathway is suppressed during repeated morphine injections that cause the mice to develop dependence, can the activity of changing this pathway also have an effect on morphine dependence? To test this hypothesis, the team activated the path through pharmacological methods while repeatedly injecting morphine, and found that by activating the path, it reduced the euphoria caused by morphine injections, but did not affect morphine-induced motor sensitivity and analgesics, and alleviated the tolerance caused by repeated morphine injections.
Zhejiang University School of Medicine 2018 Ph.D. Li Wei, 2016 master's degree Li Chunyue is the co-first author of the paper, Li Xiaoming is the author of the communication, the paper has been Zhejiang University Professor Zhou Weidong, Chinese Academy of Sciences academician Duan Shumin and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan Institute of Physical Mathematics researcher Xu Fuqiang's strong help.
that neuron magazine reviewers gave the study high ratings, calling it an important and timely anatomical and functional study that addresses a long-standing key issue in the field. And think this is an interesting and pioneering study, advanced technology, clever design, researchers use a variety of means to provide good accurate evidence, found from the abdominal cover area to the central seam back core this loop in the important role of addiction.
the study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China's key projects and the "Neural Loop Foundation for Emotions and Memory" major program integration projects. (Source: Science Network Cui Xueqin)