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Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain 2005 5(1):22-25; doi:10.1093/bjaceaccp/mki004
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Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain | Volume 5 Number 1 2005 © The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2005

Opioid receptors

John McDonald, BSc
University Department of Cardiovascular Sciences (Pharmacology and Therapeutics Group), Division of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, LE1 5WW

DG Lambert, PhD
University Department of Cardiovascular Sciences (Pharmacology and Therapeutics Group), Division of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, LE1 5WW
Tel: 01162 585291, Fax: 01162 854487, E-mail: dgl3{at}le.ac.uk (for correspondence)

Opium and its derivatives have been used for centuries, both in a medicinal and ‘recreational’ manner. Indeed, findings of fossilized opium poppy seeds dating as far back as 30 000 yr ago suggest the use of opium by Neanderthal man. In 1799, Friedrich Serturner discovered the major active ingredient of opium, which he named morphine and opioid pharmacology was born. Morphine and its derivates are used today for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. It is now understood that morphine and other opioid drugs act on an endogenous opioidergic system, which is not only involved in setting pain (nociceptive) threshold and controlling nociceptive processing but also participates in modulation of gastrointestinal, endocrine and autonomic function, as well as a possible role in cognition.


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