Role of nociceptin/orphanin FQ opioid peptide receptor in pain modulation / 国际药学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

Pain is not only a common syndrome in clinic, but also a disease harming people’s health and quality of life. Discovery of potent and low-or non-addictive analgesic agent is a great challenge and our expectation. Nociceptin/orphanin FQ opioid peptide (NOP)receptor, the fourth member of the opioid receptor family, was discovered in 1994. Growing evidence has revealed that NOP receptor plays an important role in pain transduction and modulation and becomes a potential target for novel analgesics development. This review focuses on the progresses in exploring the biological characteristics of NOP receptor and its complex role in pain modulation, as well as the discovery of novel analgesic agents targeting NOP receptor, which provides reference for understanding the mechanisms of pain and analgesia and finding ideal analgesics.