阿片类药物成瘾者瞳孔光反射的检测和特征提取

建立了一种基于图像处理的快速瞳孔直径检测算法,运用此算法提取了反映阿片类药物成瘾人员与正常人对瞳孔光反射变化差异的3个特征值:绝对收缩幅度(absolute amplitude of contraction,AAC)、相对收缩幅度(relative amplitude of contraction,RAC)和收缩斜率(SCV,slope of contraction velocity):分别研究了成瘾、性别、近视、年龄、睡眠剥夺等因素对于这3个特征值的影响.不同性别、近视人员、睡眠剥夺人员与正常人之间的3个特征值均无显著差异,成瘾人员与之对比均显著减小.老年人相对于正常青年人,3个特征值都明显减小;与成瘾人员相比,仅在RAC值上有显著差异.结果表明,阿片类药物成瘾人员除了与正常人外,也与其他具有潜在影响瞳孔变化因素的非阿片成瘾人员在瞳孔对光反射的特征值上具有显著差异.该研究的实验数据为进一步建立基于检测瞳孔对光反射其直径发生变化的方法来快速、非接触地鉴别出阿片类药物成瘾人员提供了可靠的依据.     

简讯

吗啡和海洛因在调节阿片类药物成瘾大鼠的海马区LTP中存在差异2007年初,中国科学院上海生物化学与细胞生物学研究所裴钢组在Neuropsychopharmacology上在线发表最新学术成果:吗啡和海洛因在调节阿片类药物成瘾大鼠的海马区LTP中存在差异。论文对于深入了解吗啡和海洛因的差异性、突触可塑性、学习记忆以及成瘾之间的密切关系具有一定的意义。药物成瘾被认为是神经元或神经回路的自适应性调节,其分子机制可以用神经元回路的突触可塑性改变来解释;之前和现在的研究结果为此提供了直接的实验证据。研究者们之前发现长期给与阿片类药物后所形…     

多巴胺对吗啡成瘾大鼠海马区痛觉调制的研究进展

当今社会日益增长的吗啡等阿片类药物的非法滥用已经严重威胁到人类的健康。然而,迄今为止尚没有找到能够较为有效的防治阿片成瘾的方法。目前研究已知,阿片成瘾的形成所涉及的脑区及核团包括中脑腹侧被盖区(VTA)、伏隔核(NAc)、海马等,其成瘾涉及的神经递质系统包括多巴胺、5-羟色胺等。本文将就多巴胺及海马在痛觉调制及药物成瘾过程中的作用进行综述,为吗啡的成瘾与戒断的进一研究及治疗提供线索。     

在吗啡奖赏效应中多巴胺并非必需

多年来大量的实验证明,具有成瘾性的物质通过作用于脑内不同的靶点,最终都会引起伏核内多巴胺含量的上升;而损毁中脑边缘多巴胺系统能够抑制药物的奖赏作用。因此,在成瘾机制的研究中多巴胺处于重要地位。尽管如此,仍然有人质疑多巴胺在成瘾性药物的多种行为反应中的作用,从而提出了不依赖多巴胺的阿片奖赏机制。那么,多巴胺是否是阿片类药物诱导的各种行为反应所必需的呢？     

药物成瘾及成瘾记忆的研究现状

本文在介绍药物成瘾与学习和记忆密切相关的神经回路及共同分子机制的基础上,围绕学习和记忆在药物成瘾中的作用,综述了关联性学习与复吸,关联性学习与敏化,异常关联性学习与强迫性用药行为,关联性学习及成瘾记忆与成瘾,多重记忆系统与成瘾的发生发展等方面的研究进展,并强调了突触可塑性及成瘾记忆在药物成瘾中的重要性。在此基础上提出：作为慢性脑病的药物成瘾的形成过程的重要特征是它包含着信息的特殊学习类型。药物成瘾与依赖于多巴胺的关联性学习紊乱有密切关系。海马可能在成瘾中扮演重要角色。     

吗啡和海洛因在调节阿片类药物成瘾大鼠的海马区LTP中存在差异

2007年初,中国科学院上海生物化学与细胞生物学研究所裴钢组在Neuropsychopharmacology上在线发表最新学术成果：吗啡和海洛因在调节阿片类药物成瘾大鼠的海马区LTP中存在差异。论文对于深入了解吗啡和海洛因的差异性、突触可塑性、学习记忆以及成瘾之间的密切关系具有一定的意义。     

阿片肽研究的回顾与展望

阿片肽研究已有２０多年历史,１９６２年中国学者提出脑内存在吗啡有效作用位点的创见。７０年代期间,先后发现各类阿片受体以及脑啡肽、β－内啡肽和强啡肽等阿片肽。９０年代初,各类阿片受体的基因 克隆成功,随后又发现了孤啡肽,当前阿片肽研究正在继续。阿片受体的基因剔除、计算机的模拟结构分析、阿片类物质的镇痛与成瘾机制、寻找新的阿片肽及受体的基因克隆等均在深入进行。     

靶向神经小胶质细胞的戒毒治疗策略

鸦片用于镇痛治疗有千余年历史, 其滥用导致药物成瘾, 带来严重的社会和医学问题。关于鸦片等精神活性物质的研究主要围绕 神经元,当前的戒毒药物作用于神经元的阿片受体或离子通道受体,然而其戒毒效果非常有限。神经元不是中枢神经系统中调节神经信号 转导的唯一组分,神经小胶质细胞占中枢神经系统的 10%~15%,然而其作用和功能在很长一段时间被忽视。鸦片、可卡因、冰毒及其他 精神活性物质激活 Toll 样受体 4 (TLR4),活化小胶质细胞,产生大量炎症因子,从而调节奖赏信号通路,增加神经元的兴奋性,导致药物 依赖和成瘾,因而 TLR4 是开发新型戒毒药物的靶点。综述药物成瘾的小胶质细胞分子机制以及靶向小胶质细胞的治疗药物成瘾的药物发现。     

网络成瘾类型特点及成瘾原因述评

不同类型的网络成瘾在其需要、特点和成瘾机制上存在着差异,因此,本文对国内外关于网络成瘾的类型特点及不同成瘾类型的成瘾原因进行了述评并对后续研究进行展望,旨在为网络成瘾实施个体化的预防和干预方案提供借鉴,使成瘾者和网络使用者以健康、科学的态度合理使用网络,适应现实生活.     

人参皂甙Rg1可改善吗啡依赖大鼠空间学习障碍

长时间应用阿片类制剂如吗啡、海洛因等会诱发脑的适应性改变,从而出现药物成瘾或依赖。以往研究显示,阿片成瘾在许多方面与学习记忆过程类似,相关学者认为是学习的一种异化形式,而这一异化行为的形成是脑内某一记忆系统非适应性回归介导的。另一方面,长时间应用阿片本身也会导致学习记忆能力受损。     

Pyrrolo- and pyridomorphinans: Non-selective opioid antagonists and delta opioid agonists/mu opioid partial agonists

Opioid ligands have found use in a number of therapeutic areas, including for the treatment of pain and opiate addiction (using agonists) and alcohol addiction (using antagonists such as naltrexone and nalmefene). The reaction of imines, derived from the opioid ligands oxymorphone and naltrexone, with Michael acceptors leads to pyridomorphinans with structures similar to known pyrrolo- and indolomorphinans. One of the synthesized compounds, 5e, derived from oxymorphone had substantial agonist activity at delta opioid receptors but not at mu and/or kappa opioid receptors and in that sense profiled as a selective delta opioid receptor agonist. The pyridomorphinans derived from naltrexone and naloxone were all found to be non-selective potent antagonists and as such could have utility as treatments for alcohol abuse.     

正常猕猴与树鼩神经系统和免疫系统组织中大麻素与阿片受体的表达

为应用猕猴和树鼩动物模型研究毒品成瘾对神经/免疫系统的影响提供基础数据,对大麻素及阿片受体在正常猕猴和树鼩神经系统和免疫系统的表达进行初步确定.采集正常猕猴和树鼩新鲜组织(皮质、小脑、脑干、海马、脊髓、脾脏),应用半定量逆转录PCR和实时定量PCR的方法检测大麻素与阿片受体mRNA在猕猴和树鼩各组织中的表达情况.猕猴脑部各区包括脾脏均表达大麻索受体1(CNR1),而大麻素受体2(CNR2)只表达于脾脏内.三类阿片受体中,mu(μ)受体表达最为广泛,在以上各组织中均有表达;delta(δ)受体表达的组织最少,只在海马表达;kappa(κ)受体表达介于两者之间,分别在皮质、小脑、脑干、脊髓中表达.在树鼩组织中,CNR1和CNR2表达于整个大脑重要脑区中,且CNR1表达量高于同一区域内CNR2表达的鼍:脾脏中CNR2的表达较高,而CNR1不表达.三类阿片受体只有检测到μ受体在脑部与脾脏表达,且在各个脑区的表达量明显高于脾脏的表达量;δ体和κ受体在被检各个组织中均无表达.总体而言,两种大麻素受体在猕猴和树鼩体内表达情况与人类和鼠的情况类似,而三类阿片受体在猕猴体内表达情况与人类吏为接近.猕猴和树鼩可能可用于人类毒品成瘾的研究;猕猴在某些神经受体的表达更接近人类,其在研究毒品成瘾的机理和对免疫系统的影响方面仍有不可替代的地位.     

Opioid receptors: Some perspectives from early studies of their role in normal physiology,stress responsivity,and in specific addictive diseases

The early history of research on the possible existence of specific opioid receptors and on developing a new form of pharmacotherapy for the treatment of heroin addiction in New York City, from 1960–1973, along with the special relationships between two leading scientists conducting these research efforts, Dr. Eric Simon and Dr. Vincent P. Dole Jr., are presented in a historical perspective. The linkage of these early efforts and the subsequent identification and the elucidation of the effects of exogenous opiates acting at specific opiate receptors in human physiology, including some findings from perspective studies of heroin addicts at time of entry to and during methadone maintenance treatment, are presented in the context of the important clues which thereby were provided concerning the possible roles of the endogenous opioids in normal mammalian physiology. From many of these early clinical research findings and studies in animal models, the hypothesis that the endogenous opioids system may play an important role in stress responsivity was formulated along with the related hypothesis, first presented in the early 1970s, that an atypical responsivity to stress and stressors might be involved in the acquisition and persistence of, and relapse to specific addictive diseases, including heroin addiction, cocaine dependency and alcoholism. More recent studies of the possible involvement of the specific opioid receptors in these three addictive diseases—heroin addiction, cocaine addiction and alcoholism—from our laboratory are discussed in a historical perspective of the development of these ideas from the early research findings of not only Dr. Eric Simon, but his numerous colleagues in opioid research in the United States and throughout the world. Special issue dedicated to Dr. Eric J. Simon.     

Conformation-activity relationships of opioid peptides with selective activities at opioid receptors

The discovery of endogenous opioid peptides 25 years ago opened up a new chapter in efforts to understand the origins and control of pain, its relationships to other biological functions, including inflammatory and other immune responses, and the relationships of opioid peptides and their receptors to a variety of undesirable or toxic side effects often associated with the nonpeptide opiates such as morphine including addiction, constipation, a variety of neural toxicities, tolerance, and respiratory depression. For these investigations the need for potent and highly receptor selective agonists and antagonists has been crucial since they in principle allow one to distinguish unequivocally the roles of the different opioid receptors (mu, delta, and kappa) in the various biological and pathological roles of the opioid peptides and their receptors. Conformational and topographical constraint of the linear natural endogenous opioid peptides has played a major role in developing peptide ligands with high selectivity for mu, delta, and kappa receptors, and in understanding the conformational, topographical, and stereoelectronic structural requirements of the opioid peptides for their interactions with opioid receptors. In turn, this had led to insights into the three-dimensional pharmacophore for opioid receptors. In this article we review and discuss some of the developments that have led to potent, selective, and stable peptide and peptidomimetic ligands that are highly potent and selective, and that have delta agonist, mu antagonist, and kappa agonist biological activities (other authors in this issue will discuss the development of other types of activities and selectivities). These have led to ligands that provide unique insight into opioid pharmacophores and the critical roles opioid ligands and receptor scan play in pain, addiction, and other human maladies.     

Genetic association analyses of PDYN polymorphisms with heroin and cocaine addiction

Genetic factors are believed to account for 30-50% of the risk for cocaine and heroin addiction. Dynorphin peptides, derived from the prodynorphin (PDYN) precursor, bind to opioid receptors, preferentially the kappa-opioid receptor, and may mediate the aversive effects of drugs of abuse. Dynorphin peptides produce place aversion in animals and produce dysphoria in humans. Cocaine and heroin have both been shown to increase expression of PDYN in brain regions relevant for drug reward and use. Polymorphisms in PDYN are therefore hypothesized to increase risk for addiction to drugs of abuse. In this study, 3 polymorphisms in PDYN (rs1022563, rs910080 and rs1997794) were genotyped in opioid-addicted [248 African Americans (AAs) and 1040 European Americans (EAs)], cocaine-addicted (1248 AAs and 336 EAs) and control individuals (674 AAs and 656 EAs). Sex-specific analyses were also performed as a previous study identified PDYN polymorphisms to be more significantly associated with female opioid addicts. We found rs1022563 to be significantly associated with opioid addiction in EAs [P = 0.03, odds ratio (OR) = 1.31; false discovery rate (FDR) corrected q-value]; however, when we performed female-specific association analyses, the OR increased from 1.31 to 1.51. Increased ORs were observed for rs910080 and rs199774 in female opioid addicts also in EAs. No statistically significant associations were observed with cocaine or opioid addiction in AAs. These data show that polymorphisms in PDYN are associated with opioid addiction in EAs and provide further evidence that these risk variants may be more relevant in females.     

Association of enkephalin catabolism inhibitors and CCKB antagonists: A potential use in the management of pain and opioid addiction

The overlapping distribution of opioid and cholecystokinin (CCK) peptides and their receptors (μ and δ opioid receptors; CCK-A and CCK-B receptors) in the central nervous system have led to a large number of studies aimed at clarifying the functional relationships between these two neuropeptides. Most of the pharmacological studies devoted to the role of CCK and enkephalins have been focused on the control of pain. Recently the existence of regulatory mechanisms between both systems have been proposed, and the physiological antagonism between CCK and endogenous opioid systems has been definitely demonstrated by coadministration of CCK-B selective antagonists with RB 101, a systemically active inhibitor, which fully protects enkephalins from their degradation. Several studies have also been done to investigate the functional relationships between both systems in development of opioid side-effects and in behavioral responses. This article will review the experimental pharmacology of association of enkephalin-degrading enzyme inhibitors and CCK-B antagonists to demonstrate the interest of these molecules in the management of both pain and opioid addiction. Special issue dedicated to Dr. Eric J. Simon.     

Comparison of opioid receptor distributions in the rat central nervous system

The opioid receptors, mu, delta and kappa, conduct the major pharmacological effects of opioid drugs, and exhibit intriguing functional relationships and interactions in the CNS. Previously established hypotheses regarding the mechanisms underlying these phenomena specify theoretical patterns of relative cellular localisation for the different receptor types. In this study, we have used double-label immunohistochemistry to compare the cellular distributions of delta and kappa receptors with those of mu receptors in the rat CNS. Regions of established significance in opioid addiction were examined. Extensive mu/delta co-localisation was observed in neuron-like cells in several regions. mu and kappa receptors were also often co-localised in neuron-like cell bodies in several regions. However, intense kappa immunoreactivity (ir) also appeared in a separate, morphologically distinct population of cells that did not express mu receptors. These small, ovoid cells were often closely apposed against the larger, mu-ir cell bodies. Such cellular appositions were seen in several regions, but were particularly common in the medial thalamus, the periaqueductal grey and brainstem regions. These findings support proposals that functional similarities, synergy and cooperativity between mu and delta receptors arise from widespread co-expression by cells and intracellular molecular interactions. Although co-expression of mu and kappa receptors was also detected, the appearance of a separate population of kappa-expressing cells supports proposals that the contrasting and functionally antagonistic properties of mu and kappa receptors are due to expression in physiologically distinct cell types. Greater understanding of opioid receptor interaction mechanisms may provide possibilities for therapeutic intervention in opioid addiction and other conditions.     

Bioinformatic analysis of the origin, sequence and diversification of mu opioid receptors in vertebrates

Opioid receptors are a class of G protein-coupled receptors that mediate the effects of the different families of endogenous opioid peptides and natural alkaloid drugs such as morphine and its synthetic derivatives. In particular, the μ opioid receptor (MOR) represents the principal molecular target for morphine and it plays key roles in opioid analgesia and addiction. In this work, new putative MORs from different vertebrate species were identified in silico and their gene organization and predicted protein products are compared with the previously characterized MORs. Also, for the first time a new genomic organization in euteleleostei teleosts has been identified. Moreover, we suggest that MORs may be specific to craniate lineage. The analysis of functional mapping of MORs we present is an important contribution to the identification of their evolutionarily conserved regions.     

Cocaine Modulates the Expression of Opioid Receptors and miR-let-7d in Zebrafish Embryos

Prenatal exposure to cocaine, in mammals, has been shown to interfere with the expression of opioid receptors, which can have repercussions in its activity. Likewise, microRNAs, such as let-7, have been shown to regulate the expression of opioid receptors and hence their functions in mammals and in vitro experiments. In light of this, using the zebrafish embryos as a model our aim here was to evaluate the actions of cocaine in the expression of opioid receptors and let-7d miRNA during embryogenesis. In order to determine the effects produced by cocaine on the opioid receptors (zfmor, zfdor1 and zfdor2) and let-7d miRNA (dre-let-7d) and its precursors (dre-let-7d-1 and dre-let-7d-2), embryos were exposed to 1.5 µM cocaine hydrochloride (HCl). Our results revealed that cocaine upregulated dre-let-7d and its precursors, and also increased the expression of zfmor, zfdor1 and zfdor2 during early developmental stages and decreased them in late embryonic stages. The changes observed in the expression of opioid receptors might occur through dre-let-7d, since DNA sequences and the morpholinos of opioid receptors microinjections altered the expression of dre-let-7d and its precursors. Likewise, opioid receptors and dre-let-7d showed similar distributions in the central nervous system (CNS) and at the periphery, pointing to a possible interrelationship between them.In conclusion, the silencing and overexpression of opioid receptors altered the expression of dre-let-7d, which points to the notion that cocaine via dre-let-7 can modulate the expression of opioid receptors. Our study provides new insights into the actions of cocaine during zebrafish embryogenesis, indicating a role of miRNAs, let-7d, in development and its relationship with gene expression of opioid receptors, related to pain and addiction process.     

CHO细胞表达人源μ型阿片受体及其活性分析

μ型阿片受体在阿片类药物镇痛与成瘾中发挥重要作用 .从人脑组织总RNA通过一次反转录和两次PCR法扩增获得 μ型阿片受体的cDNA ,将其克隆至pcDNA3 1 (+)中 ,转染CHO细胞后 ,筛选单克隆细胞株并制备膜受体 ,检测重组细胞株表达的 μ型阿片受体与特异性配体的结合能力 .通过饱和性结合和竞争性结合试验证实 ,重组细胞株表达的 μ型阿片受体与天然的 μ型阿片受体具有基本一致的生物学特性 ,为进一步研究阿片受体与配体相互作用的分子机制打下了基础