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 …

Opioids produce strong analgesia but their use is limited by a paradoxical hypersensitivity
named opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH) that may be associated to analgesic tolerance. In …

Compulsive drug seeking that is associated with addiction is hypothesized to follow a
heuristic framework that involves three stages (binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect …

The mesocorticolimbic pathway is canonically known as the" reward pathway." Embedded
within the center of this circuit is the striatum, a massive and complex network hub that …

In ligand bias different agonist drugs are thought to produce distinct signaling outputs when
activating the same receptor. If these signaling outputs mediate therapeutic versus adverse …

Drug addiction is a worldwide societal problem and public health burden, and results from
recreational drug use that develops into a complex brain disorder. The opioid system, one of …

Opioids are the most commonly used and effective analgesic treatments for severe pain, but
they have recently come under scrutiny owing to epidemic levels of abuse and overdose …

Opioids are the most effective drugs for the treatment of severe pain, but they also cause
addiction and overdose deaths, which have led to a worldwide opioid crisis. Therefore, the …

Decades of research advances have established a central role for endogenous opioid
systems in regulating reward processing, mood, motivation, learning and memory …

Opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD), the primary cause of opioid-induced death, is
the neural depression of respiratory drive which, together with a decreased level of …