β-Endorphins are peptides that exert a wide variety of effects throughout the body. Produced
through the cleavage pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), β-endorphins are the primarily agonist …

Upon receipt in the dorsal horn (DH) of the spinal cord, nociceptive (pain-signalling)
information from the viscera, skin and other organs is subject to extensive processing by a …

For decades, the development of peptides as potential drugs was aimed solely at peptides
with the highest affinity, receptor selectivity, or stability against enzymatic degradation …

The advance in our understanding of the biogenesis of various endogenous opioid
peptides, their anatomical distribution, and the characteristics of the multiple receptors with …

This review gives a historical perspective, summarizing approximately 25 years of research
on opioids. The “typical” opioid peptides produced in the brain,“atypical” opioids encrypted …

Endomorphin-1 (Tyr-Pro-Trp-Phe-NH2) and endomorphin-2 (Tyr-Pro-Phe-Phe-NH2) are two
endogenous opioid peptides with high affinity and remarkable selectivity for the μ-opioid …

In recent years, studies have advocated neuropeptide systems as modulators for the
behavioral states found in mood disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders …

This work was designed to elucidate the possible involvement of endogenous endomorphin-
l (EM1) in analgesia induced by electroacupuncture of low or high frequencies. Taking …

Biased agonism is having a major impact on modern drug discovery, and describes the
ability of distinct G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) ligands to activate different cell …

Drugs targeting the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) remain the most efficacious analgesics for the
treatment of pain, but activation of MOR with current opioid analgesics also produces …