ABSTRACT
Septic shock is one of the leading cause of death in hospitalized patients and mortality rates of up to 50 % have been reported. Despite all efforts, no regimen today seems to be successful in the treatment of septic shock. The endogenous opioid system (EOS) includes three major families of peptides: dynorphins, endorphins and enkephalins. Several lines of evidence indicate that EOS is implicated in the pathophysiology of anaphylactic and endotoxic shock. An opioid receptor blocker naloxone has been used extensively in studies for the role of EOS or endogenous opiod peptides (EOP). However, there have been few, if any, detailed investigative studies regarding the effect of naloxone on TNF-a production and the lethality in response to endotoxin, and tumorigenesis. ...continue...