[Endorphins. Physiological and pharmacological aspects, and research in psychiatry]

This article gives an overview of the biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology of endogenous opioid peptides. The role of endorphins in psychiatric pathology in the last ten years, has mainly been studied through two clinical research strategies: Pharmacological, administration of opiate agonists or antagonists, or substances altering endorphins metabolism. Biological, static or dynamic dosage of opioid activity in peripheral liquids, trying to correlate those measures either with a syndrome, or with a clinical trait. These methods applied to schizophrenia, affective disorders, anxiety, addiction, anorexia, and tardive dyskinesia are being reviewed. Results are very heterogeneous but support the involvement of the endogenous opioid system in some psychiatric pathology. Furthermore, this paper should help to underline some of the present day development of biological psychiatry.