Opioids such as morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl provide pain relief by binding to mu-opioid receptors, which are specialized ...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 119, No. 16 (April 19, 2022), pp. 1-10 (10 pages) Allosteric modulators of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) ...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a novel, highly potent opioid that shows potential as ...

Alcohol-use disorders have a significant genetic component to their development. New findings show that heavy drinkers with the G allele of the A118G polymorphism of the mu-opioid receptor gene have ...

Two different versions of the mu-opioid receptor within a cellular membrane illustrate how the receptor changes its conformation to send a signal into the cell. Scientists captured six high-resolution ...

Scientists have known for decades that opioids relieve pain by binding to molecular switches in the brain called mu-opioid (pronounced “mew-opioid”) receptors. What they didn’t know — until now — was ...

Having a pill that alleviates chronic pain without adverse side effects or the risk of addiction remains an unmet pharmaceutical need for millions of people currently using traditional opioid drugs.