RT Book, Section
A1 Panus, Peter C.
A1 Jobst, Erin E.
A1 Masters, Susan B.
A1 Katzung, Bertram
A1 Tinsley, Suzanne L.
A1 Trevor, Anthony J.
SR Print(0)
ID 6092707
T1 Chapter 20. Opioid Analgesics and Antagonists
T2 Pharmacology for the Physical Therapist
YR 2009
FD 2009
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-146043-9
LK accessphysiotherapy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6092707
RD 2024/04/19
AB Derivatives  of  the  opium  poppy  have  been  used  to  relieve  severe  pain  for  hundreds  (possibly  thousands)  of  years.  Morphine,  the  prototypic  opioid  agonist,  does  so  with  remarkable  efficacy.  This  alkaloid  (named  after  Morpheus,  the  Greek  god  of  dreams)  is  extracted  from  crude  opium,  which  is  obtained  from  the  opium  poppy  seed  pod.  Morphine  remains  the  standard  against  which  all  drugs  that  have  strong  analgesic  action  are  compared  in  terms  of  efficacy  and  potency.  These  drugs  are  collectively  known  as  opioid  analgesics  and  include  not  only  the  natural  opium  alkaloids  and  semisynthetic  alkaloid  derivatives  from  opium,  but  also  synthetic  surrogates  (opioid-like  analgesic  drugs  whose  actions  are  blocked  by  the  nonselective  antagonist  naloxone),  and  endogenous  peptides  that  interact  with  several  opioid  receptor  subtypes.  Opioid  analgesics  are  characterized  by  their  ability  to  relieve  moderate  to  severe  pain.  Many  opioids  also  have  useful  antitussive  or  antidiarrheal  effects.