Georgia State and Emory professors are claiming this might be the end of a drug-addiction era. Researchers have begun a study on what effects drugs can have on the body and how one could stand to better tolerate the drug and ultimately not become addicted.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study by Georgia State and Emory University identified how a brain mechanism could help prevent drug tolerance and addiction to opioid pain medication.
Dr. Anne Murphy, co-author of the study said the study took about six years in total.
“The ability to identify the mechanisms underlying tolerance and the ensuing dose escalation and increased risk of overdose is a critical first step,” she said. “We now know that the opiate blocker naloxone can rapidly reverse the effects of morphine. However, the ability to help users earlier in the entire addiction process is key to avoiding potential overdose.”
The reason behind the study, Dr. Murphy said was to find ways to alleviate pain for people.
The researchers tested their hypothesis on rats by giving them drugs that blocked the immune response; the rats no longer became tolerant to morphine.
Georgia State biology major, Robin Nguyen, said she felt unsure about how researchers will be able to be successful at the study.
“If the researchers are trying to find a way around the “forgetful step” of taking an addicting drug, then I think the research shows some promise. I’m not sure how else they could combat the addiction of addictive drugs because the main purpose of addictive drugs is to make your body depend on them,”she said.
According to LaTina Emerson, public relations specialist, in the absence of pain, morphine interferes with the body’s ability to maintain normal function, referred to as homeostasis. Anything that interferes with homeostasis is viewed by the body as a pathogen, resulting in an immune response to rid the body of the pathogen.
Results show that that blocking a certain cytokine eliminated morphine tolerance, and were able to reduce the dose of morphine needed to alleviate pain.
“These results have important clinical implications for the treatment of pain and also addiction,” said Lori Edison, lead author and a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Anne Murphy in the Neuroscience Institute of Georgia State.
“Until now, the precise underlying mechanism for opioid tolerance and its prevention have remained unknown.” Conclusions of the study found that tolerance to morphine develops rapidly. Administering one dose of morphine to rats for three days was sufficient to induce tolerance.
According to Murphy, “The ability to identify the mechanisms underlying tolerance and the ensuing dose escalation and increased risk of overdose is a critical first step. We now know that the opiate blocker naloxone can rapidly reverse the effects of morphine. However, the ability to help users earlier in the entire addiction process is key to avoiding potential overdose.”
