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G protein-coupled receptor desensitization and trafficking are important regulators of opioid receptor signaling that can dictate overall drug responsiveness in vivo. Furthermore, different μ-opioid receptor (μOR) ligands can lead to varying degrees of receptor regulation, presumably because of distinct structural conformations conferred by agonist binding. For example, morphine binding produces a μOR with low affinity for β-arrestin proteins and limited receptor internalization, whereas enkephalin analogs promote robust trafficking of both β-arrestins and the receptors. Here, we evaluate μOR trafficking in response to activation by a novel μ-selective agonist derived from the naturally occurring plant product, salvinorin A. It is interesting that this compound, termed herkinorin, does not promote the recruitment of β-arrestin-2 to the μOR and does not lead to receptor internalization. Moreover, whereas G protein-coupled …