Aug. 20, 2007 -- For the first time, pain researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that it's possible to separate the good effects of opiate drugs such as morphine (pain relief) from the unwanted side effects of those drugs (tolerance, abuse and addiction).
Zhao ZQ, Gao YJ, Sun YG, Zhao CS, Gereau RW, Chen ZF. Central serotonergic neurons are differentially required for opioid analgesia but not for morphine tolerance or morphine reward. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Early Edition,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences