(ANSA) – ROME, 04 MAY – A potential way has been identified for the development of safe painkillers, which do not trigger addictions or activate the risk of hallucinations. It is the result of a new study led by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and published in the journal Nature.
Painkillers such as morphine and oxycodone, but also illegal drugs such as heroin and fentanyl (these substances caused more than 100,000 overdose deaths in the USA in 2021) activate so-called “mu opioid receptors” on nerve cells. These receptors relieve pain but also cause the feeling of being high and this feeling contributes to addiction. An alternative strategy is to target another opioid receptor, called the “kappa” receptor, but this strategy is associated with other side effects such as hallucinations.
The new work led to the discovery of the mechanisms underlying these hallucinations, paving the way for the development of safe painkillers targeting the kappa receptor. In particular, the experts have discovered the part of the kappa receptor which, when activated, triggers hallucinations and also identified the other binding sites on the kappa receptor which do not lead to hallucinations. Developing new drugs targeting these other kappa receptor binding sites could relieve pain without the addiction problems associated with older opioids and without the hallucinations associated with existing drugs. (HANDLE).
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