Title:Exploring μ-Opioid Receptor Splice Variants as a Specific Molecular Target for New Analgesics
Volume: 20
Issue: 31
Author(s): Hirokazu Mizoguchi*Hideaki Fujii
Affiliation:
- Department of Physiology and Anatomy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-4-1 Komatsushima, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8558,Japan
Keywords:
μ-Opioid receptor, Splice variant, Narcotic analgesics, Amidino-TAPA, IBNtxA, Molecular target.
Abstract: Since a μ-opioid receptor gene containing multiple exons has been identified, the variety of
splice variants for μ-opioid receptors have been reported in various species. Amidino-TAPA and
IBNtxA have been discovered as new analgesics with different pharmacological profiles from morphine.
These new analgesics show a very potent analgesic effect but do not have dependence liability. Interestingly,
these analgesics show the selectivity to the morphine-insensitive μ-opioid receptor splice variants.
The splice variants, sensitive to these new analgesics but insensitive to morphine, may be a better molecular
target to develop the analgesics without side effects.