| Popis: |
The roles of opioid receptors in pain and addiction have been extensively studied, but their function in mood disorders has received less attention. Accumulating evidence from animal research reveals that mu, delta, and kappa opioid receptors (MOR, DOR and KOR, respectively) exert highly distinct controls over mood-related processes. Delta agonists and kappa antagonists have promising antidepressant potential, whereas the risk-benefit balances of currently available mu agonists as antidepressants remain difficult to evaluate, in addition to their inherent abuse liability. At present, both human and animal studies have mainly examined MOR and KOR in the etiology of stress-related and depressive disorders, and future studies will address all three opioid receptor functions in emerging neurobiological aspects of depression, including neurogenesis, neurodevelopment, and social behaviors. |
