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Basic and Clinical Studies of Endorphins
- WILLIAM E. BUNNEY, Jr., M.D.;
- CANDACE B. PERT, Ph.D.;
- WERNER KLEE, Ph.D.;
- ERMINIO COSTA, M.D.;
- AGU PERT, Ph.D.; and
- GLENN C. DAVIS, M.D.
Abstract
Humans have used opium extracts since antiquity, studied its purified active ingredient, morphine, for over a century, and directly demonstrated its receptors in brain only 6 years ago, and even more recently discovered the brain's own morphine. These endogenously produced opiate peptides have sparked an increase in information, creating a new area of neuroscience. Much excitement has greeted the opening of basic and clinical investigative corridors, influencing the course of research into addiction, pain, stress, and psychiatric illness. We review basic work concerning opiate receptors and the endogenously produced opioid peptides, possible cellular mechanisms for addiction, involvement of endorphins in the action of antipsychotic drugs, the role of endorphins in pain modulation, and studies of endorphins in normal subjects and psychiatric patients.
Article and Author Information
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▸An edited transcription of a Combined Clinical Staff Conference at the Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, 4 May 1978, by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
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▸Authors who wish to cite a section of this conference and specifically indicate its author can use this example for the form of reference:
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PERT CB. Opiate receptors and their natural peptide ligands, pp. 239-240. In: BUNNEY WE JR (moderator). Basic and clinical studies of endorphins. Ann Intern Med. 1979;91:239-250.
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▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to William E. Bunney, Jr., M.D.; Chief, Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Insitutes of Health, Building 10, Room 3N212; 9000 Rockville Pike; Bethesda, MD 20205.
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- Received March 22, 1979.
- Accepted May 25, 1979.
