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Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Investigating Drivers of Antireward in Addiction Behavior with Anatomically Specific Single-Cell Gene Expression Methods
Published on: August 4, 2022
Targeting Opioid Receptors in Addiction and Drug Withdrawal: Where Are We Going?
Rita Tabanelli1, Simone Brogi1, Vincenzo Calderone1
1Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Abstract:
This review article offers an outlook on the use of opioids as therapeutics for treating several diseases, including cancer and non-cancer pain, and focuses the analysis on the opportunity to target opioid receptors for treating opioid use disorder (OUD), drug withdrawal, and addiction. Unfortunately, as has been well established, the use of opioids presents a plethora of side effects, such as tolerance and physical and physiological dependence. Accordingly, considering the great pharmacological potential in targeting opioid receptors, the identification of opioid receptor ligands devoid of most of the adverse effects exhibited by current therapeutic agents is highly necessary. To this end, herein, we analyze some interesting molecules that could potentially be useful for treating OUD, with an in-depth analysis regarding in vivo studies and clinical trials.
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