Researchers Discover Brain Pathway That Dissociates Opioid Addiction From Analgesia
A newly-identified protein can be manipulated to make opioid painkillers effective at lower doses, while also muting the reward mechanism that leads to addiction. The protein, RGSz1, which is expressed in brain regions made that mediate analgesic responses, is part of an intracellular network that controls the pain-relieving effects of opioid analgesics like morphine, fentanyl, and methadone without increasing the risk of reward or dependence, according to a study conducted in mouse models at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Our discovery that RGSz1 and RGSz1 regulated pathways can be targeted to promote analgesia is very exciting because it enables us to develop strategies for the use of low opioid doses for pain relief,” said Venetia Zachariou, PhD, associate professor in the Fishberg department of neuroscience, the department of pharmacological science for the Friedman Brain Institute and the Addiction Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
- Venetia Zachariou, PhD, Associate Professor, The Fishberg Department of Neuroscience, The Department of Pharmacological Sciences, The Friedman Brain Institute, The Addiction Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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