Risk for opioid misuse in chronic pain patients is associated with endogenous opioid system dysregulation

Risk for opioid misuse in chronic pain patients is associated with endogenous opioid system dysregulation

Translational Psychiatry volume 12, Article number: 20 (2022) 

"We found that chronic pain participants at high risk for opioid misuse displayed higher baseline MOR availability within the right amygdala relative to those at low risk. By contrast, patients at low risk for opioid misuse showed less pain-induced activation of MOR-mediated, endogenous opioid neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens. This study links human in vivo MOR system functional measures to the development of addictive disorders and provides novel evidence that MORs and µ-opioid system responsivity may underlie risk to misuse opioids among chronic pain patients."

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