Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18414400›Full record

ReviewBritish journal of pharmacology2008

Cellular neuroadaptations to chronic opioids: tolerance, withdrawal and addiction.

M J Christie

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in British journal of pharmacology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 210 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
210citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
10.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

210 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 462 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Progress in pain mechanisms and management.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Characterizing the Safety and Efficacy of Propofol in Critically Ill Pediatric Patients.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. A widespread internal brain state for fentanyl withdrawal.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  10. Central amygdalar PKCδ neurons mediate fentanyl withdrawal.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

150 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

M J ChristiePain Management Research Institute and Kolling Institute, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia. macc@med.usyd.edu.au
University of Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A large range of neuroadaptations develop in response to chronic opioid exposure and these are thought to be more or less critical for expression of the major features of opioid addiction: tolerance, withdrawal and processes that may contribute to compulsive use and relapse. This review considers these adaptations at different levels of organization in the nervous system including tolerance at the mu-opioid receptor itself, cellular tolerance and withdrawal in opioid-sensitive neurons, systems tolerance and withdrawal in opioid-sensitive nerve networks, as well as synaptic plasticity in opioid sensitive nerve networks. Receptor tolerance appears to involve enhancement of mechanisms of receptor regulation, including desensitization and internalization. Adaptations causing cellular tolerance are more complex but several important processes have been identified including upregulation of cAMP/PKA and cAMP response element-binding signalling and perhaps the mitogen activated PK cascades in opioid sensitive neurons that might not only influence tolerance and withdrawal but also synaptic plasticity during cycles of intoxication and withdrawal. The potential complexity of network, or systems adaptations that interact with opioid-sensitive neurons is great but some candidate neuropeptide systems that interact with mu-opioid sensitive neurons may play a role in tolerance and withdrawal, as might activation of glial signalling. Implication of synaptic forms of learning such as long term potentiation and long term depression in opioid addiction is still in its infancy but this ultimately has the potential to identify specific synapses that contribute to compulsive use and relapse.

Indexed as

Drug ToleranceAdaptation, PhysiologicalAdenylyl CyclasesAnalgesics, OpioidAnimalsBehavior, AddictiveBrainCyclic AMPCyclic AMP-Dependent Protein KinasesHumansMitogen-Activated Protein KinasesNeural PathwaysNeuronal PlasticityOpioid-Related DisordersPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesReceptors, Opioid, muAdenylyl CyclasesAnalgesics, OpioidCyclic AMPCyclic AMP-Dependent Protein KinasesMitogen-Activated Protein KinasesPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesReceptors, Opioid, mu

Identifiers

PMID18414400
PMCPMC2442443
OpenAlexW1492294380

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.