AUGUSTA, Ga., June 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says a transporter that silences one of the body's natural pain killers holds promise for new powerful, non-addictive analgesics.
And Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy, chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the Medical College of Georgia, says the transporter also might lead to an understanding of why AIDS patients have an increased pain perception.
Opioid peptides are natural pain relievers with receptors throughout the body, said Ganapathy. For example, studies have shown opioid peptide levels increase during childbirth.
Many potent pain killers, such as morphine and codeine, override that natural pain-control system by directly activating opioid peptide receptors. While pain control is effective, it comes at a price: potential addiction, immune suppression and constipation.
Now researchers want to know whether safer pain killers can be developed that augment the body's natural pain-killing ability by instead targeting the opioid peptide transport system that terminates pain-control communication.
That, said Ganapathy, has the potential for non-addictive pain killers that are effective, but by a different mechanism.
Ganapathy has received a two-year, $286,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the project.
