Abstract: This chapter presents the identification and classification of Opioids receptors. Opioids have long played a major role in pharmacology, representing one of the oldest classes of clinically important pharmaceuticals. Like many drugs, they act through receptors and the opioid receptors were among the first to be identified in binding assays. All the opioid receptors share the ability to mediate analgesia. Since most opiate and opioid peptides show only modest selectivity among the receptors, and all the receptors can elicit a similar pharmacological response, it has been difficult to dissect the actions of each alone. With the ability to label these receptors came the opportunity to identify precisely their localization within the central nervous system using autoradiographic approaches. These early studies defining their distributions used various opioid ligands and quickly established the presence of opioid binding sites in brain regions presumed to be important in mediating opioid actions. However, as understanding of opioid receptors has expanded, it has become apparent that opioids act through a family of receptors, as described in the chapter. Equally important, many of the ligands initially thought to be “selective” are now known not to be, complicating the interpretation of the earlier studies.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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