Non-opioid effects of dynorphins: possible role of the NMDA receptor.
Dynorphin A (dynA) and related opioid peptides produce moderate analgesic effects with restricted types of pain stimuli that are often accompanied by a large variety of naloxone-insensitive biochemical and behavioural effects. In binding assays in vitro, dynA possesses a high affinity for mu-, delta- and kappa- opioid receptors with some selectivity for kappa sites, but it also binds to specific non-opioid sites. The involvement of the NMDA receptor has been suggested to explain some of the non-opioid effects of dynA and related peptides. In this article, Vijay Shukla and Simon Lemaire review the experimental evidence that suggests a role for the NMDA receptor in some of the pharmacological effects of dynA and related peptides.
Department of Pharmacology, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D004399:Dynorphins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000502:physiology*
D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D004399:Dynorphins