Opioids Poppy

Opioid analgesics are the narcotic analgesics obtained from the opium plant. More than 20 different alkaloids are obtained from the unripe seed of the opium poppy... 

The term opioid refers to any exogenous substance that acts as an agonist at any of several receptors. Opioid antagonists are drugs that bind to a receptor but produce no actions. The poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, from which opium is obtained, is grown in many areas of the world. Morphine constitutes 10% of opium, and codeine can be obtained direcdy from opium. Semisynthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone are obtained directly or indirectly from morphine. There are other distinct chemical classes of drugs with opioid actions, including the methadones. 

Analgesic Plants Opioid Opium poppy, myrrh... 

Heroin, the diacetyl derivative of morphine, is the most important illicit drug derived from the opium poppy. Together with heroin and its metabolites, other synthetic (e.g., methadone, tramadol) and semi-synthetic (e.g., buprenorphine) opioids have been quantified in different biological fluid using HPLC. 

Like morphine, codeine is a naturally occurring opioid found in the poppy plant. Codeine is indicated for the treatment of mild to moderate pain and for its antitussive effects. It is widely used as an opioid antitussive because at antitussive doses it has few side effects and has excellent oral bioavailability. Codeine is metabolized in part to morphine, which is believed to account for its analgesic effect It is one of the most commonly used opioids in combination with nonopioids for the relief of pain. The administration of 30 mg of codeine in combination with aspirin is equivalent in analgesic effect to the administration of 65 mg of codeine. The combination of the drugs has the advantage of reducing the... 

For centuries opium was used for both medicinal and recreational purposes. Derived from the poppy Papaver somniferum, it contains numerous opiates, the primary one of which is morphine. The term opiate has largely been replaced by opioid, which represents all compounds with morphinelike activity and includes morphine, morphine derivatives, and peptides. Opiate is used to refer to morphinelike drugs derived from the plant and structurally similar analogues. These drugs are frequently referred to as narcotics, a Greek term for stupor, which is scientifically obsolete. Even in its early history, opium presented a problem when it was smoked or taken orally. The introduction of the hypodermic needle and syringe, however, drastically enhanced the euphoric properties of opioids and thereby altered their abuse liability. In addition, the synthesis of heroin resulted in an opioid that was more potent than morphine and ideally suited for intravenous administration. 

A positive urine test result for opioids does not necessarily mean that the individual used drugs illegally. The GC/MS instrument is very sensitive, and any morphine detected could have come from the individual having eaten poppy seed-containing bagels or pastries shortly before the test. Also, many people are prescribed opioid-containing analgesics such as Tylenol with codeine, Percodan , and Percocet , and their urine samples will test positive. At the time of urine... 

Opium is the milky exudate obtained by incising the unripe seed capsule of the poppy plant Papaver somniferum and morphine is the most important alkaloid of opium. Morphine produces analgesia through action in the brain and spinal cord, that contain peptides possessing opioid like pharmacological action. These endogenous substances are known as endogenous opioid peptides (earlier known as endorphin now known as P-endorphin). 

The narcotic analgesics are also called the opioids because they are related structurally to the natural products of the opium poppy. The medicial properties of opium have been known for thousands of years. It has been used by shamans and medicine men and women for pain, sleep, coughing, and diarrhea. The key chemical compound among the 20 or so isolated from the resin of the... 

Opioids is the common name for all compounds which have the same mode of action as the constituents of opium, the dried milky liquid of the poppy seed, Papaver somniferum (Brownstein, 1993). All opioids interact in biological systems with the same type of receptor, the so-called opioid receptor. 

Archaeological evidence shows that early civilizations were keenly aware of the medicinal properties of certain plants. In a.d. 78, for example, the Greek physician Dioscorides wrote Materia Medica, a treatise in which he described about 600 plants known to have medicinal properties. Included in this list was the opium poppy, shown in this chapter s opening photograph. Incisions in the seed capsules of this plant yield a milky sap. When air-dried and kneaded, the sap forms a soft material known as opium, which contains opioids, a class of alkaloids known for their pain-killing and tranquilizing effects. The molecule shown is morphine, one of the more abundant and potent opioids. 

Hydromorphone and its natural opioid relatives have been used to relieve pain, treat a variety of ailments, and create euphoric feelings at least as far back as the time of the ancient Greeks. In early Greek history, the priests controlled the use of opium and ascribed to it supernatural powers. In the fifth century bc, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, dismissed the supernatural attributes of opium. Hippocrates believed opium had cathartic, narcotic, hypnotic, and styptic properties. He believed that all diseases had a natural origin and could be cured by natural therapies. All of the natural opiates historically were derived from opium poppy plants. The liquid extracted from the poppy seeds was typically dried to create a concentrated powder. These extracts were then smoked, eaten, or drank. 

Morphine has a strong analgesic effect and has been used for the alleviation of postoperative and cancer pain since antiquity, but its use is now restricted because of its drug dependency. Morphine and its homologues were called opiates after opium, which was extracted from poppy seeds. This class of drugs are now termed opioids. 

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. —... 

Unfortunately, to feel pain is an essential condition for survival. Pain-initiated avoidance behavior protects the individual. Morphine, obtained from opium, from the juice of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), has been known for millennia to alleviate pain. As mentioned in Chapter 5, endogenous opioids have also been identified. The word opioid is now used to refer to all drugs with morphine-like actions. The structure of morphine is shown in Figure 11.11. Diacetylmorphine (heroin) is made by acetylation at the 3 and 6 positions. 

Another fruitful means of identifying pharmacologically active natural products has been that of folk law remedies, many of which are plant products. Typical examples include alkaloids, such as atropine (from plants of the Solanaceae family, known to the ancient Greeks) and reserpine (from Rauwolfia serpentina, the snakeroot), which is popular in India as a herbal remedy for use as a tranquilizer or antihypertensive. Other chapters in the book relate to stigmines (based on phy-sostigmine, an anticholinesterase alkaloid from the Calabar bean in West Africa) that are used to treat Alzheimer s disease (Chapter 11-12), and opioid receptor ligands (based on morphine, the most important alkaloid of the opium poppy) for pain relief and as antitussives (Chapter 11-11). 

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