Opioids are used primarily for their strong analgesic effect in clinical pain management. While opioids, as effective pain killers, can be highly significant in the medical treatment of moderate to severe pain, they have obvious adverse consequences, including sedation/drowsiness, respiratory depression, nausea/vomiting, and so on. Prescription of opioid therapeutics, like fentanyl, morphine, and oxycodone, has gradually emerged as a major societal concern over the world over the past decades. Long-term opioid exposure can result in the development of analgesic tolerance, and ongoing administration of opioids may lead to dependence/addiction. Opioid addiction turns out to be a severe social issue, which makes us face threatened challenges. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand the mechanisms underlying opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction. Though scientists have worked on it over the past years, the detailed mechanisms remain unclear and further discussed.
Here, we launch this Research Topic targeting opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction and hope to recruit advanced updates on the mechanisms of modulation of neural circuits and plasticity underlying opioid tolerance and addiction, such as different subtypes of neurons in opioid tolerance and addiction, and other macro/micro connections in the brain. New methods and techniques to treat opioid tolerance and addiction are also important parts of this Research Topic. The main goals include: 1. Mechanism of opioid tolerance in the spinal cord; 2. Novel circuitries associated with opioid tolerance and addiction; 3. Appropriate medication strategies or combinations to reduce/prevent opioid tolerance; 4. Proper regimens to treat/rescue opioid tolerance and addiction; 5. Some novel techniques targeting brain stimulation and/or modulation of opioid tolerance and addiction, like rTMS, DBS, ultrasonic stimulation, etc.
We welcome research related to neural mechanisms underlying opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction in the peripheral nerve, spinal cord or brain. The mental and physical dependence on some other drugs, like some anesthetics and abuse drugs, are also within the scope of the current Research Topic. Original Research, Review, and Systematic Review articles are all welcome.
Opioids are used primarily for their strong analgesic effect in clinical pain management. While opioids, as effective pain killers, can be highly significant in the medical treatment of moderate to severe pain, they have obvious adverse consequences, including sedation/drowsiness, respiratory depression, nausea/vomiting, and so on. Prescription of opioid therapeutics, like fentanyl, morphine, and oxycodone, has gradually emerged as a major societal concern over the world over the past decades. Long-term opioid exposure can result in the development of analgesic tolerance, and ongoing administration of opioids may lead to dependence/addiction. Opioid addiction turns out to be a severe social issue, which makes us face threatened challenges. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand the mechanisms underlying opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction. Though scientists have worked on it over the past years, the detailed mechanisms remain unclear and further discussed.
Here, we launch this Research Topic targeting opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction and hope to recruit advanced updates on the mechanisms of modulation of neural circuits and plasticity underlying opioid tolerance and addiction, such as different subtypes of neurons in opioid tolerance and addiction, and other macro/micro connections in the brain. New methods and techniques to treat opioid tolerance and addiction are also important parts of this Research Topic. The main goals include: 1. Mechanism of opioid tolerance in the spinal cord; 2. Novel circuitries associated with opioid tolerance and addiction; 3. Appropriate medication strategies or combinations to reduce/prevent opioid tolerance; 4. Proper regimens to treat/rescue opioid tolerance and addiction; 5. Some novel techniques targeting brain stimulation and/or modulation of opioid tolerance and addiction, like rTMS, DBS, ultrasonic stimulation, etc.
We welcome research related to neural mechanisms underlying opioid analgesia, tolerance, and addiction in the peripheral nerve, spinal cord or brain. The mental and physical dependence on some other drugs, like some anesthetics and abuse drugs, are also within the scope of the current Research Topic. Original Research, Review, and Systematic Review articles are all welcome.