morphine

Protocols for the social transfer of pain and analgesia in mice

We provide protocols for the social transfer of pain and analgesia in mice. We describe the steps to induce pain or analgesia (pain relief) in bystander mice with a 1-h social interaction with a partner injected with CFA (complete Freund’s adjuvant) or CFA and morphine, respectively. We detail behavioral tests to assess pain or analgesia in the untreated bystander mice. This protocol has been validated in mice and rats and can be used for investigating mechanisms of empathy. Highlights • A protocol for the rapid social transfer of pain in rodents • Detailed requirements for handling and housing conditions • Procedures for habituation, social interaction, and pain induction and assessment • Adaptable for social transfer of analgesia and may be used to study empathy in rodents https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101756

The neural basis of pain experience and its modulation by opioids

How the brain creates a painful experience remains a mystery. Solving this mystery is crucial to understanding the fundamental biological processes that underlie the perception of body integrity, and to creating better, non-addictive pain treatments. My laboratory’s goal is to resolve the neural basis of pain. We aim to understand the mechanisms by which our nervous system produces and assembles the sensory-discriminative, affective-motivational, and cognitive-evaluative dimensions of pain to create this unique and critically important experience. To capture every component of the pain experience, we examine the entirety of the pain circuitry, from sensory and spinal ascending pathways to cortical/subcortical circuits and brainstem descending pain modulation systems, at the molecular, cellular, circuit and whole-animal levels. For these studies, we have invented novel behavioral paradigms to interrogate the affective and cognitive dimensions of pain in mice while simultaneously imaging and manipulating nociceptive circuits. My laboratory also investigates how opioids suppress pain. Remarkably, despite their medical and societal significance, how opium poppy alkaloids such as morphine produce profound analgesia remains largely unexplained. By identifying where and how opioids act in neural circuits, we not only establish the mechanisms of action of one of the oldest drugs known to humans, but also reveal the critical elements of the pain circuitry for developing of novel analgesics and bringing an end to the opioid epidemic.

Brain stress and noradrenergic system mediate the mechanisms underlying relapse caused by exposure to Social Defeat in the nucleus accumbens in morphine dependent mice

Chemically-induced nociception in planaria and its regulation by morphine and other antinociceptive compounds

Disentangling the molecular mechanisms underlying the retrieval and extinction of morphine withdrawal-associated memories in the basolateral amygdala and dentate gyrus

The influence of G protein-biased agonists of the μ-opioid receptor on addiction-like symptoms and behavioural effects of morphine in mice

Metabolism as an origin of sexual dimorphism in morphine-induced analgesia but not in the setting of analgesic tolerance in mice

ERK phosphorylation in DG and NACC after morphine CPP extinction. Involvement of morphine encapsulation in liposomes

Repeated administration of N-acetylcysteine could reduce extinction-responding in the morphine conditioned rats

Role of the blockade of A2A receptor in the acquisition of morphine withdrawal-induced CPA

Role of dopamine D4 receptor in the development of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance

Role of propranolol and CP-154,526 in relapse caused by Tail Pinch associated with morphine. Expression of phosphorylated CREB in dentate gyrus

Study of the antinociceptive effect of morphine evaluated by a neuropathic pain model in male and female mice

Ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide regulates mast cell-astrocyte crosstalk: a new potential mechanism underlying the inhibition of morphine tolerance

Anti-inflammatory effect of alpha-pinene on the neuroinflammation induced by morphine dependence and withdrawal is mediated by modulating toll-like receptor signaling pathway

FENS Forum 2024

Detection of the dopamine release induced by morphine and cocaine treatment using a novel microimaging platform

FENS Forum 2024

The emerging role of D4R in preventing morphine tolerance through the regulation of transcription factor expression in the dorsal horn

FENS Forum 2024

Pharmacological activation of the dopamine D4 receptor prevents morphine-induced impairment of adult neurogenesis in the subventricular zone: Functional implications in odor discrimination learning

FENS Forum 2024

Role of TLR4 pathway in the prefrontal cortex following acute and chronic administration of morphine and its withdrawal syndrome

FENS Forum 2024