Opiates and opioids

Amphetamine effects on aggression are markedly modulated by opiates and opioid peptides. Withdrawal from prolonged exposure to opiates may lead to increased defensive and aggressive responses in mice and rats and increased hostility in humans (Lai et al. 1971 Gossop and Roy 1976 ... 

Multiple opiate receptors Different regional distribution in the brain and differential binding of opiates and opioid peptides. Mol Pharmacol 16 91-104, 1979. 

Opiates and opioid derivatives delay the transit of intraluminal content or increase gut capacity, prolonging contact and absorption. The limitations of the opiates are addiction potential (a real concern with long-term use) and worsening of diarrhea in selected infectious diarrheas. 

Childers, S.R., Creese, I., Snowman, A.M., Synder, S.H.. Opiate receptor binding affected differentially by opiates and opioid peptides, Eur. J. Pharmacol. 1979, 55, 11-18. 

Figure 3. Proposed model for the action of opiates and opioid peptides on glyco-syltransferase activity. It is postulated that receptors for both opiates and neurotransmitters are linked to adenylate cyclase by a guanylnucleotide regulatory protein (GNRP). The presence of opiates or opioid peptides inactivates the cyclase, which normally activates a protein kinase-glycosyltransferase system, thereby initiating...

While it is true that dextromethorphan is not technically a member of the opiate family, it is distantly related in its chemical composition. Dextromethorphan is created by from levomethorphan, which is classified as an opioid, the synthetic or semi-synthetic relatives of the natural chemical family called the opiates. Levomethorphan has most of the same qualities of all drugs in the opiate and opioid classes. This includes strong suppressive effects on the respiratory system. It is these strong effects on the respiratory system that make dextromethorphan an effective anti-cough agent. Opiate and opioid compounds have anti-cough properties but produce greater overall respiratory depression than dextromethorphan. 

Narcotics (opiates and opioids) are natural, semisynthetic, and synthetic derivatives of the opium poppy. Drugs such as morphine, codeine, heroin, methadone, Darvon, and Percodan fall into this category. They are all depressants, but they are also potent painkillers, and except for heroin (which is illegal) they are prescribed to relieve pain and to control coughing and diarrhea. But because of their pleasurable effects and addictive properties, they can cause problems when taken for nonmedical reasons. Most nonmedical users take these drugs to experience euphoria, to avoid pain, and to relieve withdrawal symptoms. —... 

Ramakrishnan. K, and Portoghe.se, P. S., Synthesis and biological evaluation of a mcla/o-cine-containing cnkephalinamide. Evidence for nonidentical roles of the tyraminc moiety in opiates and opioid peptides. J. Med. Chem, 25, 142.3, 1982. 

Opiates are compounds extracted from the milky latex contained in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium, morphine, and codeine are the most important opiate alkaloids found in the opium poppy. Opium was used as folk medicine for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. In the seventeenth century opium smoking led to major addiction problems. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, morphine was isolated from opium. About 20 years later, codeine, one-fifth as strong as morphine, was isolated from both opium and morphine. In 1898, heroin, an extremely potent and addictive derivative of morphine was isolated. The invention of the hypodermic needle during the mid-nineteenth century allowed opiates to be delivered directly into the blood stream, which increases the effects of these drugs. Synthetically produced drugs with morphine-like properties are called opioids. The terms narcotic, opiate, and opioid are frequently used interchangeably. Some common synthetically produced opioids include meperidine (its trade name is Demerol) and methadone, a drug often used to treat heroin addiction. 

Examples of Schedule II drugs are opiates and opioids (narcotics)—straight opiates of codeine, morphine, meperidine stimulants—amphetamine, methylphenidate depressants— amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital, or any combination, that is, Tuinal hallucinogenic substances and any immediate precursors. 

Section II Amphetamines Barbiturates Dextromethorphan Opiates and Opioids Judith A. Alsop, PharmD, DABAT... 

These spontaneous events could prove of great interest and have already been shown to be of practical importance. Later, we describe how they have been used to explore the excitatory action of opiates and opioid peptides and possibly the time course of the unitary membrane events. Much earlier, a number of workers claimed to have recorded directly from interneurons involved in the spontaneous release of transmitter and showed them to be excited in a relevant way by orthodromic, but not antidromic, stimulation (Brown et al, 1979 Schwartzkroin and Mathers, 1978). 

Pepper, C. M., and Henderson, G., 1980, Opiates and opioid peptides hyperpolarize locus coeruleus neurones in vitro, Science 209 394-396. 

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