Opioid Peptides 49 Ryszard Przewlocki Abbreviations ACTH Adrenocorticotropic hormone CCK Cholecystokinin CPA Conditioned place aversion CPP Conditioned place preference CRE cAMP response element CREB cAMP response element binding CRF Corticotrophin-releasing factor CSF Cerebrospinal fluid CTAP D-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Arg-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH2 (m-opioid receptor antagonist) DA Dopamine DOP d-opioid peptide EOPs Endogenous opioid peptides ERK Extracellular signal-regulated kinase FSH Follicle-stimulating hormone GnRH Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone HPA axis Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis KO Knockout KOP k-opioid peptide LH Luteinizing hormone MAPK Mitogen-activated protein kinase MOP m-opioid peptide NOP Nociceptin opioid peptide NTS Nucleus tractus solitarii PAG Periaqueductal gray R. Przewlocki Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Institute of Pharmacology, PAS, Krakow, Poland Department of Neurobiology and Neuropsychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland e-mail:
[email protected] D.W. Pfaff (ed.), Neuroscience in the 21st Century, 1525 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1997-6_54, # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013 1526 R. Przewlocki PDYN Prodynorphin PENK Proenkephalin PNOC Pronociceptin POMC Proopiomelanocortin PTSD Posttraumatic stress disorder PVN Paraventricular nucleus SIA Stress-induced analgesia VTA Ventral tegmental area Brief History of Opioid Peptides and Their Receptors Man has used opium extract from poppy seeds for centuries for both pain relief and recreation. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Serturmer first isolated the active ingredient of opium and named it morphine after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Fifty years later, morphine was introduced for the treatment of postoper- ative and chronic pain. Like opium, however, morphine was found to be an addictive drug.