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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (
beta-endorphin
)
21,003
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Beta-endorphin
(beta-EP) is generally classified as a mu and delta opioid receptor agonist but is also an agonist of the epsilon opioid receptor. Although several selective agonists and antagonists for mu, delta, and kappa opioid receptors are known, selective epsilon receptor agonists or antagonists have not been reported for some time. Recently, we designed and synthesized the selective epsilon receptor agonist, 17-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5alpha-epoxy-3,6beta-dihydroxy-6,14-endoethenomorphinan-7alpha-[N-methyl-N-phenethyl]carboxamide (TAN-821), and the selective epsilon receptor antagonist, 17-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5alpha-epoxy-6beta,21-epoxymethano-3-hydroxy-6,14-endoe-thenomorphinan-7alpha-(N-phenethyl)carboxamide (TAN-1014). TAN-821 stimulated binding of the non-hydrolyzable guanosine 5'-triphosphate analogue, guanosine 5'-(gamma-thio)-triphosphate (GTPgammaS), to the mouse pons/medulla membrane via activation of the epsilon receptor. Moreover, TAN-821 given intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) produced marked, long-lasting, and dose-dependent antinociception in tail-flick and hot-plate tests. This antinociception induced by i.c.v. administered TAN-821 was blocked by i.c.v. pretreatment with the epsilon opioid receptor partial agonist beta-EP (1-27), but not the
mu opioid receptor
antagonist beta-FNA, the delta opioid receptor antagonist NTI, or the kappa opioid receptor antagonist nor-BNI. On the other hand, i.c.v. injection of TAN-1014 alone produced no antinociception, and i.c.v. pretreatment with TAN-1014 attenuated the antinociception induced by i.c.v beta-EP. These results suggest that TAN-821 and TAN-1014 are respectively a selective epsilon receptor agonist and antagonist and that they may be useful tools for investigating the pharmacological properties of the epsilon opioid receptor.
...
PMID:Rational drug design of selective epsilon opioid receptor agonist TAN-821 and antagonist TAN-1014. 1671 73
The
mu opioid receptor
is centrally involved in the development of the addictive diseases. It also modulates the stress responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Receptors encoded by the variant 118G polymorphism in exon 1 of the
mu opioid receptor
gene have a threefold increase in
beta-endorphin
binding and
beta-endorphin
is three times more potent in receptor-mediated activation of G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels. Humans with this variant have increased stress response following opioid antagonism. Here, we study basal levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol in subjects with this variant. In all, 59 healthy adults were genotyped and had morning levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol measured following intravenous administration of saline placebo. Subjects with a 118G allele had significantly greater levels of cortisol than subjects with the prototype gene. Groups did not differ in levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone. A planned comparison revealed significantly greater cortisol in females with at least one copy of the 118G allele compared to females with the prototype gene. There was no significant effect of gender alone, nor was there a significant interaction between gender and genotype, on ACTH or cortisol. Subjects with at least one copy of the 118G allele have increased basal levels of cortisol, which may influence the susceptibility to and treatment of the stress responsive dyscrasia.
...
PMID:Altered levels of basal cortisol in healthy subjects with a 118G allele in exon 1 of the Mu opioid receptor gene. 1679 69
Opioid peptides are the most effective drugs in controlling pain; their action is elicited by binding to specific membrane receptors. The gastrointestinal tract represents, after the nervous system, the site in which the opioid receptors are expressed at high levels. The opioid agonist morphine has a significant inhibitory effect on intestinal motility, this action is blocked by naloxone an opioid antagonist mainly active at mu and kappa receptors. In this study the presence of
mu opioid receptor
on rabbit jejunum was investigated by western blot. The effects of
beta-endorphin
, the endogenous opioid peptide with the highest affinity to the
mu opioid receptor
and those of naloxone on spontaneous rabbit jejunum contractions were evaluated.
Beta-endorphin
(10(-6) M) showed a relaxant effect on jejunum contractility while naloxone showed a dual effect inducing an increase of spontaneous contractility at low concentrations (10(-6) M, 10(-7) M, 10(-8) M) and a decrease when high concentrations (10(-3) M, 10(-4) M, 10(-5) M) were utilized. The obtained results demonstrate that
mu opioid receptor
is expressed in rabbit jejunum and suggest that this receptor may be involved in mediating the effects of both opioid agonist and antagonist on jejunum contractions.
...
PMID:Opioid agonist/antagonist effect of naloxone in modulating rabbit jejunum contractility in vitro. 1703 96
Complex behaviors such as those associated with reward to unconditioned positive reinforcers are polygenic processes. In studies using genetically modified mice specific for the endogenous opioid systems an observed phenotype in a complex behavior is likely to be dependent on interacting genes which, in inbred mouse lines, influence that phenotype. To address this issue we examined operant responding for palatable food reinforcers in mice lacking the expression of
beta-endorphin
, enkephalin or both peptides congenic to two different genetic backgrounds; C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. These two inbred strains were chosen because their endogenous opioid states differ and they respond differently to exogenous opioids in many behavioral assays. We found that wildtype and mutant C57BL/6J mice acquired operant responding for food reinforcers faster than DBA/2J mice, regardless of their opioid genotype. Although wildtype DBA/2J mice had a significant deficit in acquisition of bar-pressing behavior to reach a pre-established performance criterion, no subsequent deficit was observed under two different schedules of reinforcement. Additionally, we found that mice lacking enkephalin had decreased motivation to bar press for palatable food reinforcers under a progressive ratio regardless of sex or background strain. In contrast, the only subset of
beta-endorphin
-deficient mice that had decreased motivation to bar press under a progressive ratio was males on the C57BL/6J background. Of the two classical endogenous opioid peptides with preferential activation of the
mu opioid receptor
, the knockout models would suggest that enkephalins play a more consistent role than
beta-endorphin
in mediating the motivation for food reward when tested under a progressive ratio.
...
PMID:The contribution of endogenous opioids to food reward is dependent on sex and background strain. 1704 74
In this study, we investigated the effects of acute morphine administration, chronic intermittent escalating-dose morphine administration and spontaneous withdrawal from chronic morphine on mRNA levels of
mu opioid receptor
(MOP-r), and the opioid peptides
pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)
and preprodynorphin (ppDyn) in several key brain regions of the rat, associated with drug reward and motivated behaviors: lateral hypothalamus (lat.hyp), nucleus accumbens (NAc) core, amygdala, and caudate-putamen (CPu). There was no effect on MOP-r mRNA levels in these brain regions 30 min after either a single injection of morphine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or chronic intermittent escalating-dose morphine (from 7.5 mg/kg per day on day 1 up to 120 mg/kg per day on day 10). Activation of the stress-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by 12 h withdrawal from chronic morphine was confirmed; both POMC mRNA levels in the anterior pituitary and plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone levels were significantly elevated. Under this withdrawal-related stress condition, there was an increase in MOP-r mRNA levels in the lat.hyp, NAc core, and CPu. Recent studies have demonstrated a novel role for the lat.hyp orexin (or hypocretin) activation in both drug-related positive rewarding, and withdrawal effects. Around 50% of lat.hyp orexin neurons express MOP-r. Therefore, we also examined the levels of lat.hyp orexin mRNA, and found them increased in morphine withdrawal, whereas there was no change in levels of the lat.hyp ppDyn mRNA, a gene coexpressed with the lat.hyp orexin. Our results show that there is an increase in MOP-r gene expression in a region-specific manner during morphine withdrawal, and support the hypothesis that increased lat.hyp orexin activity plays a role in morphine-withdrawal-related behaviors.
...
PMID:Mu opioid receptor and orexin/hypocretin mRNA levels in the lateral hypothalamus and striatum are enhanced by morphine withdrawal. 1706 97
Phosphorylation of specific sites in the second intracellular loop and in the C-terminal domain have previously been suggested to cause desensitization and internalization of the mu-opioid receptor (MOP-R). To assess sites of MOP-R phosphorylation in vivo, affinity-purified, phosphoselective antibodies were raised against either phosphothreonine-180 in the second intracellular loop (MOR-P1) or the C-terminal domain of MOP-R containing phosphothreonine-370 and phosphoserine-375 (MOR-P2). We found that MOR-P2-immunoreactivity (IR) was significantly increased within the striatum of wild-type C57BL/6 mice after injection of the agonist fentanyl. Pretreatment with the antagonist naloxone blocked the fentanyl-induced increase. Furthermore, mutant mice lacking MOP-R showed only non-specific nuclear MOR-P2-IR before or after fentanyl treatment, confirming the specificity of the MOR-P2 antibodies. To assess whether MOP-R phosphorylation occurs following endogenous opioid release, we induced chronic neuropathic pain by partial sciatic nerve ligation (pSNL), which caused a significant increase in MOR-P2-IR in the striatum. pSNL also induced signs of
mu opioid receptor
tolerance demonstrated by a rightward shift in the morphine dose response in the tail withdrawal assay and by a reduction in morphine conditioned place preference (CPP). Mutant mice selectively lacking all forms of the
beta-endorphin
peptides derived from the proopiomelanocortin (Pomc) gene did not show increased MOR-P2-IR, decreased morphine antinociception, or reduced morphine CPP following pSNL. In contrast gene deletion of either proenkephalin or prodynorphin opioids did not block the effects of pSNL. These results suggest that neuropathic pain caused by pSNL in wild-type mice activates the release of the endogenous opioid
beta-endorphin
, which subsequently induces MOP-R phosphorylation and opiate tolerance.
...
PMID:The absence of endogenous beta-endorphin selectively blocks phosphorylation and desensitization of mu opioid receptors following partial sciatic nerve ligation. 1746 16
The most common single nucleotide polymorphism in the coding region of the human
mu opioid receptor
gene is the A118G variant, an adenine to guanine transition at nucleotide position 118 of the coding sequence of the gene. This polymorphism codes for an asparagine to aspartic acid substitution at amino acid 40 in the amino-terminus, thereby removing a potential extracellular glycosylation site. Using in vitro cellular expression assays, this variant has been reported to change binding of the endogenous agonist
beta-endorphin
and signaling of the receptor following binding of
beta-endorphin
. Three clinical studies report that A118G genotype affects opioid antagonist-mediated increases in cortisol levels. These studies demonstrate a functional role of this variant in responses to endogenous and exogenous opioids. To further characterize function, we expressed the prototype and variant receptors in two types of cells (human 293 embryonic kidney cells and Syrian hamster adenovirus-12-induced tumor cells). Stable expression of variant and prototype receptors was characterized by differences in levels of cell surface binding capacity (B(max)), forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation, as well as agonist-induced accumulation of cAMP (EC(50)) for several agonists, but not for
beta-endorphin
. In contrast, transiently expressed variant receptors showed only a minor difference in cell surface binding capacity compared to the prototype, and no differences in cAMP EC(50) values.
...
PMID:The single nucleotide polymorphism A118G alters functional properties of the human mu opioid receptor. 1787 33
Mu opioid receptor ligands such as morphine and
met-enkephalin
are known to modulate normal brain development by perturbing gliogenesis and inhibiting neuronal proliferation. Surprisingly, the distribution of the
mu opioid receptor
(
MOR
) in the embryonic brain, especially in proliferative regions, is poorly defined and subject to conflicting reports. Using an immunohistochemical approach, we found that
MOR
protein was expressed in the neuroepithelia of the lateral ventricles, third ventricle, and aqueduct within the late embryonic (E15.5 and E18.5) mouse brain. In contrast to the ventricular neuroepithelia, the proliferative external granule layer of the embryonic cerebellum did not express
MOR
protein, although the Purkinje cell layer did. Within the ventricular neuroepithelium, GLAST-positive radial glia that incorporate BrdU expressed
MOR
, while migrating neuroblasts (doublecortin-positive) do not. BrdU labeling of proliferating cells showed an anterior to posterior gradient of proliferation (P<0.05), while an opposing posterior to anterior gradient of
MOR
expression (P<0.05) was found. The localization of
MOR
immunoreactivity within the embryonic ventricular neuroepithelia is consistent with a role for opioids in modulating neurogenesis.
...
PMID:Mu opioid receptors are expressed on radial glia but not migrating neuroblasts in the late embryonic mouse brain. 1788 89
Analgesic effects of delta opioid receptor (DOR) -selective agonists are enhanced during persistent inflammation and arthritis. Although the underlying mechanisms are still unknown, membrane density of DOR was shown to be increased 72 h after induction of inflammation, an effect abolished in
mu opioid receptor
(
MOR
) -knockout (KO) mice [Morinville A, Cahill CM, Kieffer B, Collier B, Beaudet A (2004b) Mu-opioid receptor knockout prevents changes in delta-opioid receptor trafficking induced by chronic inflammatory pain. Pain 109:266-273]. In this study, we demonstrated a crucial role of
MOR
in DOR-mediated antihyperalgesia. Intrathecal administration of the DOR selective agonist deltorphin II failed to induce antihyperalgesic effects in
MOR
-KO mice, whereas it dose-dependently reversed thermal hyperalgesia in wild-type mice. The antihyperalgesic effects of deltorphin II were blocked by naltrindole but not d-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Orn-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH(2) (CTOP) suggesting that this agonist was mainly acting through DOR. SNC80-induced antihyperalgesic effects in
MOR
-KO mice were also attenuated as compared with littermate controls. In contrast, kappa opioid receptor knockout did not affect deltorphin II-induced antihyperalgesia. As evaluated using mice lacking endogenous opioid peptides, the regulation of DOR's effects was also independent of
beta-endorphin
, enkephalins, or dynorphin opioids known to be released during persistent inflammation. We therefore conclude that DOR-mediated antihyperalgesia is dependent on
MOR
expression but that activation of
MOR
by endogenous opioids is probably not required.
...
PMID:Essential role of mu opioid receptor in the regulation of delta opioid receptor-mediated antihyperalgesia. 1799 30
Recently, we demonstrated that neuropeptide FF (NPFF) causes anorexigenic effects in chicks that were associated with the hypothalamus. The present study was designed to better understand some of the central mechanisms that mediate these effects. Co-injection of NPFF and beta-funaltrexamine (FNA, a
mu opioid receptor
antagonist) did not suppress food intake more than when NPFF and FNA were injected alone. However, co-injection of NPFF and ICI-174,864 (ICI, a delta opioid receptor antagonist) caused a greater reduction in food intake than when NPFF and ICI were injected alone. Co-injection of NPFF and nor-binaltorphimine (BNI, a kappa opioid receptor antagonist) did not cause a greater suppression of food intake than when NPFF and BNI were injected alone. Hyperphagia induced by neuropeptide Y and
beta-endorphin
(both ligands of opioid receptors) was reversed by NPFF. These results suggest that NPFF-induced satiety has a relationship with mu and kappa but not delta subtypes of opioid receptors, and since NPFF does not bind opioid receptors itself NPFF-associated satiety is likely mediated by effects on opioid receptor ligands such as NPY and
beta-endorphin
. Thus, NPFF induced satiety may be mediated via modulation of the chick's innate opioid-associated orexigenic system.
...
PMID:Anoretic effects of neuropeptide FF are mediated via central mu and kappa subtypes of opioid receptors and receptor ligands. 1882 89
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