There are no Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for cocaine use disorder, including relapse. The -opioid receptor (MOPr) partial agonist buprenorphine alone or in combination with naltrexone has been shown to reduce cocaine-positive urine tests and cocaine seeking in rodents. However, there are concerns over the abuse liability of buprenorphine. Buprenorphine's partial agonist and antagonist activity at the nociception receptor (NOPr) and -opioid receptor (KOPr), respectively, may contribute to its ability to inhibit cocaine seeking. Thus, we hypothesized that a buprenorphine derivative that exhibits antagonist activity at MOPr and KOPr with enhanced agonist activity at the NOPr could provide a more effective treatment. Here we compare the pharmacology of buprenorphine and two analogs, BU10119 and BU12004, in assays for antinociception and for cocaine- and stress-primed reinstatement in the conditioned place preference paradigm. In vitro and in vivo assays showed that BU10119 acts as an antagonist at MOPr, KOPr, and -opioid receptor (DOPr) and a partial agonist at NOPr, whereas BU12004 showed MOPr partial agonist activity and DOPr, KOPr, and NOPr antagonism. BU10119 and buprenorphine but not BU12004 lessened cocaine-primed reinstatement. In contrast, BU10119, BU12004, and buprenorphine blocked stress-primed reinstatement. The selective NOPr agonist SCH221510 but not naloxone decreased cocaine-primed reinstatement. Together, these findings are consistent with the concept that NOPr agonism contributes to the ability of BU10119 and buprenorphine to attenuate reinstatement of cocaine-conditioned place preference in mice. The findings support the development of buprenorphine analogs lacking MOPr agonism with increased NOPr agonism for relapse prevention to cocaine addiction. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: There are no Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for cocaine use disorder. Buprenorphine has shown promise as a treatment for cocaine relapse prevention; however, there are concerns over the abuse liability of buprenorphine. Here we show a buprenorphine analogue, BU10119, which lacks -opioid receptor agonism and inhibits cocaine-primed and stress-primed reinstatement in a conditioned place-preference paradigm. The results suggest the development of BU10119 for the management of relapse to cocaine seeking.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/jpet.121.000524 | DOI Listing |
Br J Pharmacol
January 2025
Center for Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Background And Purpose: Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a human migraine trigger that is being targeted for migraine. The δ-opioid receptor (δ-receptor) is a novel target for the treatment of migraine, but its mechanism remains unclear. The goals of this study were to develop a mouse PACAP-headache model using clinically significant doses of PACAP; determine the effects of δ-receptor activation in this model; and investigate the co-expression of δ-receptors, PACAP and PACAP-PAC1 receptor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroscience
January 2025
Research Center of Physiology, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. Electronic address:
Corticosteroid signaling plays a critical role in modulating the neural systems underlying reward and addiction, but the specific contributions of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to opioid reward and dopaminergic plasticity remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of intra-mPFC injection of corticosteroid receptor ligand (corticosterone; CORT), glucocorticoid receptor antagonist (RU38486; RU), and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (spironolactone; SP) on morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and dopamine transporter (DAT) expression in the mPFC. Adult male Wistar rats received intra-mPFC injections of CORT, RU, SP, or their respective vehicles prior to morphine CPP conditioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRSC Med Chem
December 2024
Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences, University of Ferrara 44121 Ferrara Italy
The N/OFQ-NOP receptor is a fascinating peptidergic system with the potential to be exploited for the development of analgesic drugs devoid of side effects associated with classical opioid signalling modulation. To date, up to four X-ray and cryo-EM structures of the NOP receptor in complex with the endogenous peptide agonist N/OFQ and three small molecule antagonists have been solved and released. Despite the available structural information, the details of selective small molecule agonist binding to the NOP receptor in the active state remain elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Anaesth
January 2025
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address:
The publisher regrets that this article has been temporarily removed. A replacement will appear as soon as possible in which the reason for the removal of the article will be specified, or the article will be reinstated. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Toxicol Sci
January 2025
Department of Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health.
In illicit drug markets, the most recently expanding new synthetic opioid subclass is benzimidazoles, also known as nitazenes, which were originally developed as analgesics in the 1950s. The emergence of this classical, potent drug family has attracted extensive research interest in the field of forensic toxicology; however, information on their psychological and physical dependence is very limited. Herein, we evaluated the rewarding effects of four nitazene analogs using a battery of in vivo experiments, with a positive control drug (isotonitazene).
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