Ageing and age-related diseases share some basic mechanistic pillars that largely
converge on inflammation. During ageing, chronic, sterile, low-grade inflammation—called …

Opioids are powerful drugs that usurp and overpower the reward function of endogenous
opioids and engage dramatic tolerance and withdrawal via molecular and neurocircuitry …

Opioids are very potent and efficacious drugs, traditionally used for both acute and chronic
pain conditions. However, the use of opioids is frequently associated with the occurrence of …

Research on the effects of opioids on immune responses was stimulated in the 1980s by the
intersection of use of intravenous heroin and HIV infection, to determine if opioids were …

β-Endorphins are peptides that exert a wide variety of effects throughout the body. Produced
through the cleavage pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), β-endorphins are the primarily agonist …

Reciprocal signalling between immunocompetent cells in the central nervous system (CNS)
has emerged as a key phenomenon underpinning pathological and chronic pain …

Dopamine is well recognized as a neurotransmitter in the brain, and regulates critical
functions in a variety of peripheral systems. Growing research has also shown that …

Neuroinflammation is considered as a detrimental factor in neurodegenerative diseases,
including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD) …

Conspectus Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are the “gatekeepers” of the immune system in
humans and other animals to protect the host from invading bacteria, viruses, and other …

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) recognizes exogenous pathogen-associated molecular patterns
(PAMPs) and endogenous danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and initiates the …