28 January 2008

Source: Wallace Ravven
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Morphine’s serious side effect as a pain killer – its potential to create dependency – has been almost completely eliminated in research with mice by genetically modifying a single trait on the surface of neurons. The study scientists think a drug can be developed to similarly block dependency.

The research was published online January 17 by “Current Biology” and appears in the journal’s January 23 print edition. The scientists were led by Jennifer Whistler, PhD, an investigator in the UCSF-affiliated Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, and associate professor of neurology at UCSF.

Millions of people in the U.S. are given the opiate drug morphine for extreme pain caused by cancer, surgery, nerve damage and other conditions. It remains the pain killer of choice for many types of short-term pain, such as surgery, according to Whistler, but it is less useful for the treatment of chronic pain because its effectiveness decreases with continued use in a process called tolerance. As a consequence, an increasingly larger dose is required to treat the pain, thereby increasing the chance of addiction. Read More