Suppression of Rgsz1 Function Optimizes the Actions of Opioid
Suppression of RGSz1 function optimizes the actions PNAS PLUS of opioid analgesics by mechanisms that involve the Wnt/β-catenin pathway Sevasti Gasparia,b,c, Immanuel Purushothamana,b, Valeria Cogliania,b, Farhana Saklotha,b, Rachael L. Neved, David Howlande, Robert H. Ringf, Elliott M. Rossg,h, Li Shena,b, and Venetia Zacharioua,b,1 aFishberg Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029; bFriedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029; cDepartment of Basic Sciences, University of Crete Medical School, 71003 Heraklion, Greece; dGene Delivery Technology Core, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA 01239; eCure Huntington’s Disease Initiative (CHDI) Foundation, Princeton, NJ 08540; fDepartment of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029; gDepartment of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390; and hGreen Center for Systems Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390 Edited by Solomon H. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and approved January 5, 2018 (received for review June 23, 2017) Regulator of G protein signaling z1 (RGSz1), a member of the RGS studies have documented brain region-specific effects of other family of proteins, is present in several networks expressing mu RGS proteins (RGS9-2, RGS7, and RGS4) (29–33) on the opioid receptors (MOPRs). By using genetic mouse models for global functional responses of MOPRs, the role of RGSz1 in opioid or brain region-targeted manipulations of RGSz1 expression, we actions is not known. We hypothesized that the expression and demonstrated that the suppression of RGSz1 function increases the activity of RGSz1 are altered by chronic opioid use and that the analgesic efficacy of MOPR agonists in male and female mice and manipulation of RGSz1 expression will impact the development delays the development of morphine tolerance while decreasing the of tolerance to the drug and its analgesic and rewarding effects.
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