A new synthetic opioid designed to relieve pain may pose a lower risk of addiction than morphine while still providing pain relief, according to research in lab rats. The drug, called DFNZ, did not trigger the large surge of dopamine associated with euphoria in other opioids, suggesting it might carry a lower addiction risk.
To demonstrate reduced addictive potential, researchers allowed rats to self-administer the drug via a catheter tube hooked to a lever and ran the same experiment with morphine. Both drugs showed potential for addiction, but when administration stopped, rats withdrew from morphine experienced worse withdrawal symptoms than rats denied DFNZ. Rats coping without morphine repeatedly pressed the defunct lever hoping for a fix, whereas rats discontinuing DFNZ were quicker to abandon this behavior. “The studies are good at suggesting that it has a weaker addictive potential than some of the other drugs out there,” said an assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience who studies drug addiction, though she cautioned that self-administration tests “still leads me to believe that there is a potential for an addictive profile.”
In another experiment testing potential treatment for heroin addiction, rats receiving DFNZ or fentanyl pressed the lever significantly fewer times than rats given placebo, suggesting these opioids tempered the urge to use heroin. Researchers noted they did not study the impact pain could have on DFNZ’s addictive potential, warning there is a concern that pain relief could pose a higher addiction risk even without euphoria. Multiple safety tests and clinical trials remain to be conducted before DFNZ could reach hospitals, a process experts expect would take at least a decade.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://us.headtopics.com/news/new-pain-relief-opioid-could-be-much-less-addictive-than-82382819