Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0278080 (physical dependence)
 1,658 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Opioid tolerance and physical dependence in mammals can be rapidly induced by chronic exposure to opioid agonists. Recently, opioid receptors have been shown to interact with the pertussis toxin (PTX)-insensitive Gz (a member of the Gi subfamily), which inhibits adenylyl cyclase and stimulates mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Here, we established stable human embryonic kidney 293 cell lines expressing delta-opioid receptors with or without Gz to examine the role of Gz in opioid receptor-regulated signaling systems. Each cell line was acutely or chronically treated with [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (DPDPE), a delta-selective agonist, in the absence or presence of PTX. Subsequently, the activities of adenylyl cyclase, cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent response element-binding proteins (CREBs), and MAPKs were measured by determining cAMP accumulation and phosphorylation of CREBs and the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERKs) 1 and 2. In cells coexpressing Gz, DPDPE inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation in a PTX-insensitive manner, but Gz could not replace Gi to mediate adenylyl cyclase supersensitization upon chronic opioid treatment. DPDPE-induced adenylyl cyclase supersensitization was not associated with an increase in the phosphorylation of CREBs. Both Gi and Gz mediated DPDPE-induced activation of ERK1/2, but these responses were abolished by chronic opioid treatment. Collectively, our results show that although Gz mediated opioid-induced inhibition of adenylyl cyclase and activation of ERK1/2, Gz alone was insufficient to mediate opioid-induced adenylyl cyclase supersensitization.
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PMID:Regulation of adenylyl cyclase, ERK1/2, and CREB by Gz following acute and chronic activation of the delta-opioid receptor. 1073 27

The activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) has been observed in synaptic plasticity processes of learning and memory in morphine dependence. However, the role of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 5 (ERK5), a member of MAPKs, has not been studied yet in morphine dependence. To identify the function of ERK5 in the formation and development of morphine physical dependence, morphine withdrawal-like behavioral test and western blot technique were used in this research. Morphine was subcutaneously injected by an intermittent and escalating procedure to induce physical dependence, which was measured by withdrawal symptoms. In this study, spinal ERK5 signaling pathway was remarkably activated by chronic morphine injection and naloxone-precipitated withdrawal. Intrathecal injection of BIX02188, a novel specific inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinases kinase 5 (MEK5), produced a dose- and time-dependent inhibition of the activation of spinal ERK5, without affecting activation of other MAPKs. Moreover, selective attenuation of spinal p-ERK5 expression by BIX02188 could significantly relieve morphine withdrawal symptom, accompanying with the decreased phosphorylation of cAMP response-element binding protein (CREB) in the spinal cord. These findings suggested that activation of the ERK5 signaling pathway might contribute to morphine physical dependence and its specific pharmacological inhibitor BIX02188 could be a potential therapeutic choice for alleviation of morphine withdrawal symptoms in the future.
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PMID:Activation of the spinal extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 signaling pathway contributes to morphine physical dependence in rats. 2135 74