ReviewBJA open2023
Opioids and opioid receptors; understanding pharmacological mechanisms as a key to therapeutic advances and mitigation of the misuse crisis.
Review in BJA open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Opioids to Treat Chronic Pain in the Older Adult: A Clinical Consensus to Guarantee Safety and Avoid Adverse Events.Drugs & aging · 2026Review
- Pain relief but respiratory depression: Insights into the dark side of opioid overuse.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Development and Biological Characterization of Fluorescent Dynorphins for the Visualization of Kappa Opioid Receptors.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2026Article
- Emerging Insights into the Distinct Pharmacological Mechanisms of Buprenorphine.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026Article
- Applications of micro/nano drug delivery systems in cancer pain management.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- A targetable opioid/cancer associated fibroblast axis drives extracellular matrix remodeling and tumor aggressiveness in pancreatic cancer.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Opioid use disorder and dementia risk: evidence from observational and genetic analyses in diverse ancestry cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- AI-driven quantum chemical exploration of multi-target synthetic opioid analogs for enhanced therapeutic profiles.Journal of computer-aided molecular design · 2026Article
- Investigating Opioid Receptor Activity through Biocatalytic Halogenation and Oxidation of Mitragynine.ACS chemical biology · 2026Article
- Targeting NMDA receptors in pain management: therapeutic innovations through piracetam repurposing.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Sorbent Strip Microextraction as a Practical Tool for Drug Screening: Application to Opioids and Local Anesthetics in Human Urine.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Therapeutic Potential of Dual NMR (NOP/MOP) Agonism in Pain Management.Pain and therapy · 2026Review
- What a pain in the back: etiology, diagnosis and future treatment directions for discogenic low back pain.Bone research · 2025Review
- Effects of Ethanol and Opioid Receptor Antagonists Naltrexone and LY2444296 on the Organization of Cholesterol- and Sphingomyelin-Enriched Plasma Membrane Domains.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
- The application of acupuncture in the management of neuropathic orofacial pain: a narrative literature review.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2025Review
- [Clinical pharmacology of opioid analgesics].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Myofascial Pain Syndrome: An Update on Clinical Characteristics, Etiopathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment.Muscle & nerve · 2025Review
- Treating Opioid Use Disorder and Opioid Withdrawal in the Context of Fentanyl.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2025Review
- Article
- Peripheral Opioid Receptors in the Modulation of Inflammatory Pain: a Narrative Review.Maedica · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Opioids are a mainstay in acute pain management and produce their effects and side effects (e.g., tolerance, opioid-use disorder and immune suppression) by interaction with opioid receptors. I will discuss opioid pharmacology in some controversial areas of enquiry of anaesthetic relevance. The main opioid target is the µ (mu,MOP) receptor but other members of the opioid receptor family, δ (delta; DOP) and κ (kappa; KOP) opioid receptors also produce analgesic actions. These are naloxone-sensitive. There is important clinical development relating to the Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ (NOP) receptor, an opioid receptor that is not naloxone-sensitive. Better understanding of the drivers for opioid effects and side effects may facilitate separation of side effects and production of safer drugs. Opioids bind to the receptor orthosteric site to produce their effects and can engage monomer or homo-, heterodimer receptors. Some ligands can drive one intracellular pathway over another. This is the basis of biased agonism (or functional selectivity). Opioid actions at the orthosteric site can be modulated allosterically and positive allosteric modulators that enhance opioid action are in development. As well as targeting ligand-receptor interaction and transduction, modulating receptor expression and hence function is also tractable. There is evidence for epigenetic associations with different types of pain and also substance misuse. As long as the opioid narrative is defined by the 'opioid crisis' the drive to remove them could gather pace. This will deny use where they are effective, and access to morphine for pain relief in low income countries.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.