• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 23, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Significantly less addictive opioid may slow progression of osteoarthritis while easing pain

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
July 13, 2020
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

A Keck Medicine of USC study reveals that kappa opioids preserved cartilage in joints and eased pain

IMAGE

Credit: Shutterstock

LOS ANGELES – A novel preclinical study by Keck Medicine of USC researchers, published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, reveals that a potential new opioid medication may have the ability to slow the progression of osteoarthritis while being less addictive than commonly prescribed opioid drugs.

The medication activates the kappa opioid receptor (KOR), which binds to opioid-like compounds in the central and peripheral nervous systems to alleviate pain, resulting in targeted pain relief with a reduced risk of addiction.

Previous research shows that some opioids that selectively activate only KORs relieve pain locally at the site of injury without crossing the blood brain barrier and inducing substance dependency, whereas commonly prescribed opioids that target other receptors in the brain are more addictive.

In this study, lead author Alexander Weber, MD, sports medicine physician and orthopaedic surgeon with Keck Medicine, and corresponding author Denis Evseenko, MD, PhD, vice chair for research and associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, locally administered a kappa opioid into arthritic mice knees and measured the progression of the disease in their joints.

The researchers confirmed that the medication effectively alleviated pain, however findings also suggest that the medication prevented the loss of cartilage, the connective tissue between the joins that pads bones, and slowed the progression of osteoarthritis.

“Arthritis affects nearly a quarter of adults in the United States, many of whom take addictive opioids to manage their pain. The implications of this study may someday alter how we provide orthopaedic care to significantly reduce the number of patients experiencing long-term pain and addiction,” says Weber.

More research is needed to advance toward human clinical trials, which are paramount as treatment and pain management options for osteoarthritis are limited.

“We hope that the findings of our study will lay the foundations for clinical research to further current understandings of the relationship between kappa opioids and osteoarthritis in humans to improve clinical care and quality of life,” says Evseenko.

###

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers RO1-AR-071724 and RO1-AG-058624, and by the Department of Defense under award number W81XWH-13-1-0465.

For more information about Keck Medicine of USC visit news.KeckMedicine.org

Media Contact
Gabriella Robison
[email protected]

Original Source

https://news.keckmedicine.org/significantly-less-addictive-opioid-may-slow-progression-of-osteoarthritis-while-easing-pain/preview/13a216040c524ec7dc043dd51976d1d324666170

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/art.41250

Tags: AddictionAgingCell BiologyDrugsMedicine/HealthOrthopedic Medicine
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Weather’s Impact on Anopheles Mosquito Populations in Lagos

August 23, 2025
Ghost Spider’s Maternal Care vs. New Fly Species

Ghost Spider’s Maternal Care vs. New Fly Species

August 23, 2025

Temperature and Desiccation Impact Acinetobacter baumannii Cells

August 23, 2025

Epstein-Barr Virus Protein EBNA1 Drives Oncogene Activation in Cervical Cancer Cells

August 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    114 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Modified DASH Diet Reduces Blood Sugar Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical Trial Finds

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Weather’s Impact on Anopheles Mosquito Populations in Lagos

Ghost Spider’s Maternal Care vs. New Fly Species

DWI-Guided vs. MRI-Based IMRT in Head & Neck

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.