On page 91, Dr. Moalem begins discussing the history of painkillers. The use of herbal remedies from plants for healing has been traced back to the Neanderthals some 60,000 years ago. Even though the science of deriving pain medication has evolved over time, the source of these of pain medications has not changed. Today, one of the most powerful painkillers is morphine. Painkillers fall under big idea 4: biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.
Where is morphine derived from, and what medical uses does it have? Research the effects that morphine has on the immune system. Which immediate immunological response is most affected by the use of morphine? Refer to Unit 11: Immune System for help. Also, studies show that morphine can alter the expression of numerous genes, including ones that code for proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration. Referring back to units 7 and 10 (cellular respiration and gene expression), what kind of adverse effects do you think alterations in the expression of these genes could have on our cells?
(Sarah Terwilliger, sterwil3@students.d125.org)
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ReplyDeleteMorphine is derived from the same source that the Ancient greeks used many years ago, according to Moalem. They used opium milk, which is the "fluid that oozes out of the opium poppy when it's slashed"(91). Morphine is the most abundant opiate found in the opium and is extremely powerful. Morphine is used as an intense painkiller for acute and chronic pain. It is often used after surgery as a pain reliever and for other serious injuries (http://www.drugs.com/morphine.html). Morphine acts by interacting with the Mu-opioid receptor (http://www.jneurosci.org/content/16/8/2684), which are binding sites in the human brain in posterior amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus, nucleus caudatus, and putamen. It binds to these receptors and activates them, which causes analgesia (pain reduction), sedation, and euphoria (wikipedia).
ReplyDeleteMorphine not only affects the nervous system, but it affects the immune system as well.This relates to Big Idea 4 that states, "Biological systems interact, and these systems and interactions possess complex properties." Morphine is one example of how systems interact in which a medicine that is mainly used for pain ultimately affects the immune system also. Scientists have concluded that dendritic cells, which produce cytokines, have opiate receptors on them. Cytokines are essential for communication in the immune system. Cytokines are an important part in all 3 main immune responses: the inflammatory response, the cell-mediated response, and the humoral or antibody-mediated response. In the inflammatory response, the injured cells release histamine and prostaglandins, which act as chemical messages for the macrophage to come and engulf the pathogen. In the antibody-mediated response, the Helper T cell secretes interleukin 2, which acts as a chemical signal in order to activate the B cell. In the cell-mediated response, the Helper T cell activates the killer Cytotoxic T cell with interleukin 2. Morphine can therefore affect all three of these immune processes by altering the dendritic cells that produce cytokines.
It is also known that morphine can affect gene expression of the genes that code for proteins that are involved in cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is a crucial process in which the mitochondria catabolizes glucose into 36-38 molecules of ATP, which is the only usable form of energy in the body. If some of the genes are turned off that code for proteins involved in cellular respiration by halting transcription and translation to take place, such as proteins involved in glycolysis that help to break glucose into 2 pyruvate molecules, enzymes that help to finish the breakdown of glucose, or possibly the crucial enzyme ATP synthase that synthesizes ATP through Chemiosmosis along the electron transport chain, then the body might not be able to have a large enough supply of ATP. A lack of ATP could be catastrophic on the body, as the body would not have enough energy to carry out vital functions. (Jeremy Bush jbush3@students.d125.org)
Not only does morphine have a great role in the immune system, it also plays a large role in the nervous system. Morphine is an exogenous substance that reacts similarly to how endogenous opioids would react, but with more power. This is due to the fact, as Jeremy mentioned, morphine attach to opiate receptors, which are the same ones that endogenous opiate-like substances would attach to. An endogenous substance is created naturally by the body, while an exogenous substance is a foreign substance added to the body. Opiate receptors are part of the nervous system and the endogenous opioids in humans affects the pain stimuli experienced, hunger and thirst by binding to these receptors. This is due to the fact that these opiate receptors are usually located on afferent peripheral neurons and the spinal cord, which help detect these senses. The three main types of opiate receptors are mu, delta, and kappa receptors. Morphine also binds to the opiate receptor and will send second messengers throughout the cell. Morphine will bind to the mu receptor and inhibit GABA, gamma-Aminobutyric acid –an inhibitory part of the neural system responsible for regulating neuronal excitability in the central nervous system (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11837891), from being released. Normally, GABA will reduce the amount of dopamine released when the body’s natural opiate-like substances interact with the receptor. The exact ways that GABA inhibition of dopamine or morphine’s inhibition of GABA are not known yet. (http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/37/5/485.full) But it may be due to isomers, or comptetitive inhibition. But since morphine inhibits the GABA from functioning, then more dopamine will be released. This increases pleasure for the user. (http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_heroine.html#drogues)
ReplyDeleteThe reason that morphine creates an addiction for the user is that when morphine is in the body, it binds to the opiate receptors, which inhibits an enzyme called adenylate cyclase - an enzyme which catalyzes the reaction that turns ATP into cAMP - thereby inhibiting cAMP production (http://www.australianprescriber.com/magazine/19/3/63/5#.UXCjJEpvJH8) The body will have created more enzymes to create cAMP; however, once the opiate wears off and cAMP is de-inhibited, the body will have a surplus of cAMP in the body. Increased cAMP concentrations causes neural hyperactivity since there will be a surplus of cAMP in the body. This makes the user crave more of the drug to inhibit the cAMP once again. (http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/674narcotic.html )
Lily Barghi (lbarghi4@students.d125.org)
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