Opioid receptor characterisation of neuronally stimulated isolated human vas deferens

Endogenous opiates and behavior: 2012

This paper is the thirty-fifth consecutive installment of the annual review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system. It summarizes papers published during 2012 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides, opioid receptors, opioid agonists and opioid antagonists. The particular topics that continue to be covered include the molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors related to behavior (Section 2), and the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia (Section 3); stress and social status (Section 4); tolerance and dependence (Section 5); learning and memory (Section 6); eating and drinking (Section 7); alcohol and drugs of abuse (Section 8); sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (Section 9); mental illness and mood (Section 10); seizures and neurologic disorders (Section 11); electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (Section 12); general activity and locomotion (Section 13); gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (Section 14); cardiovascular responses (Section 15); respiration and thermoregulation (Section 16); and immunological responses (Section 17).

Advances in the development and use of human tissue-based techniques for drug toxicity testing

INTRODUCTION

Unacceptable failure rates in clinical trials are largely responsible for the high costs of bringing successful drugs to market - costs that are passed on to patients, insurers or healthcare providers. Furthermore, failures in clinical trials deny patients much-needed new drugs and potentially expose them to unnecessary risk. With so many medicines reaching their patent expiry date, pressure is on the pharmaceutical industry to not only increase its output of effective medicines but also improve its ability to minimise safety issues.

AREAS COVERED

This review focuses on the availability and use of human tissues and their derivatives to explore potential toxicity problems of new drugs. The growth in the number and quality of human material-based assays and enabling technologies is reviewed, followed by a discussion of the application of such assays to identify specific toxicities, using specific examples.

EXPERT OPINION

Although human tissues are now beginning to be seen as playing an important role in evaluating the potential for toxicity of new drugs in the clinic, their importance deserves to be more widely recognised and their use in the identification of toxicity issues as early as possible in the drug development life cycle should be significantly increased.