SUMMARY
UCLA researchers in the Department of Psychiatry have identified a novel treatment method that helps with severe pain management with opiates, whilst reducing the risk of addiction significantly.
BACKGROUND
Opioid epidemic continues to be rampant and a grave public health concern in the US; it has caused more than 400,000 of deaths over the past 20 years, according the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). More than 2 million Americans reported that they had an opioid use disorder (OUD). Opiates are extensively used for severe pain management such as severe burns, traumatic injuries, cancer, joint inflammation, sickle cell anemia etc.
A critical issue stemming from OUD is the inability to withdraw successfully for many addicts. The short-term and long-term withdrawal effects are extremely severe causing addicts to relapse within a year, despite, being prescribed potent pharmacologic treatments such as methadone, buprenorphine etc. under medical supervision.
Multiple studies reported that long-term administration of additive doses of opioids led to neural changes. Dr. Jerome Siegel at UCLA identified that human heroin addict brains had an average 54% increase in the number of detectable hypocretin (Hcrt/orexin) neurons and a 22% shrinkage in the cross-sectional area of these neurons. While analgesics such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are highly effective in relieving relatively mild pain, they do not provide nearly the relief that opiates do for severe pain. There is a critical unmet need for effective opioid alternatives to help with severe pain management without causing additions or abuses.
INNOVATION
Dr. Jerome Siegel and colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry identified that combined administration of Hcrt receptor antagonists and morphine may be able to greatly increase the safety of opiate treatment while maintaining its analgesic properties.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
ADVANTAGES
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE
The study has been validated in mice.
Related Papers (from the inventors only):
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