Opioid receptors and brain function

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 | 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET

Brigitte Kieffer, Ph.D.

Professor

Douglas Hospital Research Center

Website

Summary

Opiates have been used since thousand years for their remarkable pain-relieving and rewarding properties. Opiates produce their potent effects by activating opioid receptors in the brain, highjacking an endogenous opioid system, which is central to hedonic and mood homeostasis. Recently, revolutions in G protein-coupled receptor research, fascinating developments in basic neuroscience and the rising opioid crisis have propelled opioid receptors back on stage. This presentation will discuss rapidly evolving areas in opioid receptor research for addiction, including the key question of whether we can we kill pain without addiction using mu opiates, and how opioid receptors operate within the neurocircuitry of addiction. Recent work linking mu opioid receptor gene and drug activities to whole-brain functional networks, using by fMRI in mice, will also be presented.