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Presence of Endogenous Opiate Alkaloids in Mammalian Tissues

  • Chapter
Opioids

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 104 / 1))

Abstract

The finding that mammalian tissues contain the opiate alkaloid morphine endogenously arose as a fallout of having developed morphine antibodies (Spector and Parker 1970). Initially these antibodies were used to monitor exogenously administered opiates and to study their disposition in body fluids (Gintzler et al. 1976a). The advantages that these antibodies served in the detection of opiate alkaloids were their sensitivity and specificity (Spector 1971). It became feasible to speculate and ask whether morphine, an opiate alkaloid synthesized in a very complex and stereospecific pathway in the poppy plant Papaver somniferum (see Fig. 1), or a closely related compound, also existed as an endogenous compound in mammalian body fluids and tissues.

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Authors
  1. S. Spector
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  2. J. Donnerer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung Neuropharmakologie, Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie, Am Klopferspitz 18, W-8033, Martinsried, Germany

    Albert Herz

  2. Mental Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, 205 Zina Picher, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Huda Akil

  3. Medical Center, School of Medicine, New York University, 550 First Avenue, 10016, New York, NY, USA

    Eric J. Simon

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Spector, S., Donnerer, J. (1993). Presence of Endogenous Opiate Alkaloids in Mammalian Tissues. In: Herz, A., Akil, H., Simon, E.J. (eds) Opioids. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 104 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77460-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77460-7_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-77462-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-77460-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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