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Morphine: Difference between revisions
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== Description == | == Description == | ||
Morphine, a narcotic analgesic, is used to treat moderate to severe pain, particularly chronic pain. Morphine also causes drowsiness and feelings of euphoria. Due to its addictive nature, morphine should only be taken as directed by a medical doctor. Commonly administered as morphine sulfate or morphine hydrochloride, morphine is available in a wide variety of forms. It can be taken in pill or tablet form, in liquid form, as a rectal suppository, or with an IV or hypodermic needles<ref name=webmd>[http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/morphine-sulfate]</ref>. | |||
First used in the early 1800s, morphine remains a widely used painkiller. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency recognizes morphine as the standard for measuring the potency of other analgesic drugs. For example, morphine is half as strong as heroin but has twelve times the potency of codeine<ref name=morphineaddictionhelp>[http://www.morphineaddictionhelp.com/history-of-morphine]</ref>. | |||
== How Morphine Works == | == How Morphine Works == | ||
[[Image:example.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Description]] | [[Image:example.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Description]] | ||
Morphine acts on the central nervous system by binding to opioid receptors. It binds primarily to the mu-receptors in the thalamic, hypothalamic, and amygdalar regions of the brain, as well as the periaqueductal grey area of the brain and several sites in the spinal cord. It may also bind to kappa and delta-type opioid receptors<ref name=toxipedia>[http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Morphine]</ref>. Morphine also attaches to GABA inhibitory interneurons that control the inhibition of pain. The morphine blocks pain receptors, preventing endorphins and dynorphins from binding there, and it inhibits the release of neurotransmitters in the opioid receptors<ref name=drugbank>[http://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00295]</ref>. Morphine can bind to these receptors because it has the same B-phenylthylamine unit that endorphins have. LSD and many other hallucinogens also possess this unit and can bind to the same sites<ref name=toxipedia/>. | |||
== Chemical Structure == | == Chemical Structure == | ||
