Geraniin attenuates naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal and morphine-induced tolerance in mice

Natural products as the therapeutic strategies for addiction

World Drug Report 2023 concluded that 296 million people abused drugs, 39.5 million became addiction and 494,000 died as a direct or indirect result of addiction. Addiction has become a growing problem that affects individuals, their families, societies, countries and even the world. However, treatment for addiction is only limited to some developed countries because of the high cost, difficult implementation, and time consuming. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a low-cost, effective drug for the development of addiction treatment in more countries, which is essential for the stability and sustainable development of the world. In this review, it provided an overview of the abuse of common addictive drugs, related disorders, and current therapeutic regimen worldwide, and summarized the mechanisms of drug addiction as reward circuits, neuroadaptation and plasticity, cognitive decision-making, genetics, and environment. According to their chemical structure, 43 natural products and 5 herbal combinations with potential to treat addiction were classified, and their sources, pharmacological effects and clinical trials were introduced. It was also found that mitragine, ibogine, L-tetrahydropalmatine and crocin had greater potential for anti-addiction.

Oleanolic Acid Attenuates Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms in Rodents: Association with Regulation of Dopamine Function

Introduction

Oleanolic acid (OA) has been shown to be useful for the treatment of mental disorders.

Methods

In this study, we investigated the effects of OA in animal models of spontaneous withdrawal and naloxone-precipitated withdrawal and evaluated the effects of OA on the acquisition, extinction, and reinstatement of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP).

Results

OA significantly improved symptoms of withdrawal, and significantly reduced the acquisition and reinstatement of morphine-induced conditioned place preference. Moreover, OA significantly reduced the serum content of 5-hydroxy tryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in a dose-dependent manner, and reduced norepinephrine (NE) and 5-HT content in the frontal cortex (PFC), while significantly increasing endorphin content in rats. OA also significantly reduced serum DA content in mice.

Conclusion

These results indicate that OA can improve the withdrawal symptoms of rats and mice by regulating the DA system and suggest that OA may be useful in treatment of morphine addiction.

Endogenous opiates and behavior: 2017

This paper is the fortieth consecutive installment of the annual anthological review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system, summarizing articles published during 2017 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides and receptors as well as effects of opioid/opiate agonists and antagonists. The review is subdivided into the following specific topics: molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors (1), the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia in animals (2) and humans (3), opioid-sensitive and opioid-insensitive effects of nonopioid analgesics (4), opioid peptide and receptor involvement in tolerance and dependence (5), stress and social status (6), learning and memory (7), eating and drinking (8), drug abuse and alcohol (9), sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (10), mental illness and mood (11), seizures and neurologic disorders (12), electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (13), general activity and locomotion (14), gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (15), cardiovascular responses (16), respiration and thermoregulation (17), and immunological responses (18).