Advances in Endogenous and Exogenous Opioids contains the proceedings of the International Narcotic Research Conference (Satellite Symposium of the 8th International Congress of Pharmacology) held in Kyoto, Japan on July 26-30, 1981. The conference provided a forum for discussing advances that have been made in the understanding of endogenous and exogenous opioids and tackled a wide array of topics ranging from novel opiate binding sites selective for benzomorphan drugs to the purification of opioid receptors and sequellae of receptor binding. Comprised of 156 chapters, this book begins with an analysis of the interaction of opioid peptides and alkaloid opiates with mu-, delta-, and kappa-binding sites. The reader is then systematically introduced to biochemical evidence for kappa and sigma opiate receptors; the action of morphine and oxymorphone as partial agonists on the field-stimulated rat vas deferens; mechanisms of supersensitivity in the enkephalinergic system; and properties of the solubilized opiate receptor from human placenta. Subsequent chapters explore the biosynthesis of opioid peptides as well as their localization, release, and degradation; physiological and pharmacological actions of opioids; and the use of analgesia in acupuncture. Results of behavioral and clinical studies of endogenous and exogenous opioids are also presented, and the structure-activity relationships of opioids are examined. This monograph will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers in the fields of psychiatry and pharmacology.
