Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Opioids, like morphine, are effective painkillers but have led to widespread addiction and serious side effects like respiratory depression, notably seen in the U.S. opioid crisis that claimed nearly 645,000 lives from 1999 to 2021. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have identified a potential alternative, aniquinazolin B, from the marine fungus Aspergillus nidulans, which binds to opioid receptors and could replace opioids with fewer undesirable effects, after rigorous testing including over 750,000 calculations per substance using the MOGON supercomputer.
Opioids, recognized for their significant pharmacological effects, have long been used as effective painkillers. Morphine, a notable example first isolated and synthesized in the early 19th century, provides crucial relief for patients in the final stages of severe illness.
However, when opioids are used inappropriately they can cause addiction and even the development of extremely serious undesirable effects, such as respiratory depression. In the USA, opioids were once widely promoted through the media and, as a consequence, were often prescribed to treat what were in fact mild disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were nearly 645,000 cases of mortality due to opioid overdose in the United States between 1999 and 2021.
And the opioid crisis has arrived in Germany, too. The main problem is street drugs and the fact that the synthetic opioid heroin, in particular, is cut with other, cheaper opioids, such as fentanyl. While a dose of 200 milligrams of heroin is fatal, just two milligrams of fentanyl can kill. In 2022, more than 1,000 people in Germany died as a result of the consumption of opioids.
Governments have introduced measures to contain this epidemic. However, opioid addiction rates are high. Others suffer from extreme pain that needs to be alleviated. There is thus an urgent need for safe analgesics. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) – with the financial support of the Research Training Group “Life Sciences – Life Writing”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – have now made progress towards this goal.
“A natural product called aniquinazolin B that is isolated from the marine fungus Aspergillus nidulans stimulates the opioid receptors and could possibly thus be used instead of opioids in the future,” explained Roxana Damiescu, a member of the research team headed by Professor Thomas Efferth.
In the search for new compounds, the team started with a chemical database of more than 40,000 natural substances. It was their aim to determine how effectively each substance would bind to the corresponding receptor. And, in addition, they had to ascertain whether these had the properties required of a pharmaceutical drug.
Such a compound must be water-soluble to some extent, for example. This research required calculations in the form of approximations, with the results becoming increasingly more precise the more frequently these calculations were performed. Each substance was the subject of some 750,000 individual calculations. Such a colossal number of calculations would vastly exceed the capacity of a standard PC. Therefore, the team utilized the MOGON supercomputer at JGU. The top 100 candidate products of these calculations were subsequently assessed using other analytical methods.
The resultant top ten found their way into the lab, where they underwent biochemical analysis. The initial priority was to establish safety. Using preparations of human kidney cells, the researchers looked at whether higher concentrations of each substance would prove toxic to the cells and even kill them. Finally, two other aspects had to be subjected to testing.
“We needed to confirm that the high binding energy of the substances to the pain receptors that had been predicted by the theoretical calculations was actually also produced in the real physical world,” said Professor Thomas Efferth, head of the JGU Department of Pharmaceutical Biology. However, binding of a substance to the receptors is not alone sufficient. The binding must also influence the functioning of the receptors.
Thus, the research team used a second test system to assess whether there was the kind of inhibition of biological activity that occurs during opioid use. One of the two compounds passed all tests with flying colors: aniquinazolin B, the substance present in the marine fungus Aspergillus nidulans. “The results of our investigations indicate that this substance may have effects similar to those of opioids. At the same time, it causes far fewer undesirable reactions,” concluded Roxana Damiescu.
Reference: “Aniquinazoline B, a Fungal Natural Product, Activates the μ-Opioid Receptor” by Roxana Damiescu, Mohamed Elbadawi, Mona Dawood, Sabine M. Klauck, Gerhard Bringmann and Thomas Efferth, 23 May 2024, ChemMedChem.
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202400213
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Sunday July 21 2024, @12:58PM (3 children)
They come from plants with minimal processing. So how is the new stuff being "natural" better?
I've never understood why "natural" is such an effective claim. Lots of stuff is both "natural" and "not very good for you".
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday July 21 2024, @03:15PM (1 child)
It's just marketing.
Cinnabar is totally natural and totally toxic. So is hemlock and... water if you drink enough of it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday July 21 2024, @04:08PM
It's toxic only if you roast it and inhale the fumes. Otherwise, the very low solubility in water (1.04e−25 g/100 ml water [wikipedia.org]) makes it quite safe for handling. This letting aside one can synthesize it [wikipedia.org] </insomia-induced-pedantry>
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday July 21 2024, @03:55PM
Incorrect.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by tekk on Sunday July 21 2024, @01:06PM (11 children)
Huh, opiates are really effective for pain management.
Oh no! Opiates have bad side effects.
Don't worry, we've invented heroin! It's an opioid, all the pain relief with none of the side effects
Oh no! Heroin has the same bad side effects.
Don't worry, we've invented morphine! All the pain relief with none of the side effects!
Oh no! Morphine has the same bad side effects.
Don't worry, we've invented oxycodone! All the pain relief with none of the side effects!
Oh no! Oxycodone has all the same bad side effects.
I'm starting to think that this might not actually be a productive line of chemistry to pursue unless you're a pharma company who promises that *this* opioid totally isn't addictive.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Username on Sunday July 21 2024, @01:49PM (6 children)
Anything that makes you feel better is addictive. There isn't a pain killer that people won't abuse either. People still overdose on Tylenol that they buy over the counter.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pe1rxq on Sunday July 21 2024, @02:12PM (3 children)
True, but addiction has multiple components.
The amount of psychological dependence versus physical dependence can vary greatly between different substances.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday July 21 2024, @04:23PM (2 children)
Addiction is weird, as some may become addicted to things different to exogenous substances and may not involve physiological dependence. E.g. gambling, sex, gaming, etc may create addiction w/o involving substances.
(on the other side, one may tongue-in-cheek argue that the dependence on food/water/air are addictions too - the withdrawal symptoms are nasty and deadly).
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday July 24 2024, @12:42AM (1 child)
... electricity/motorvehicle transport/Internet/ ...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 24 2024, @05:41AM
Naaah, the Romans haven't done those for us
(just in case you suggest that relying on progress is a risky addiction, transpose the argument to the Roman Empire times)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday July 21 2024, @04:12PM (1 child)
Ummmm... now I wonder... do masochists feel better when in pain?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Informative) by Reziac on Monday July 22 2024, @02:44AM
According to one I knew, yes, He claimed he could really get off on a good beating, and showed me the bruises to prove it.(Apparently caned all over his back.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday July 21 2024, @04:10PM
FTFY
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Sunday July 21 2024, @05:19PM
Seems to me that the biggest problem with heroin is that it's illegal, so it isn't quality controlled. Legalize it and the cutting with fentanyl problem basically goes away.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday July 21 2024, @08:52PM
No wait, we have a new formulation called Fentanyl [youtu.be]! I don't anticipate any problems [youtu.be] with that as the next approach.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Monday July 22 2024, @02:23AM
There's also a bunch of political crap in there. Neighbour has chronic pain from injuries sustained while serving his country, and gets morphine (essentially, heroin) to deal with it. CBD oil is much more effective for him (lower dose needed, better pain relief, vastly fewer nasty side effects), but he can't afford it because it's based on evil marijuana and so not available on prescription and barely available off-prescription. So they keep giving him heroin, alongside 20 other meds to deal with the side-effects, instead of CBD, which would be better in all regards.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday July 22 2024, @01:50PM
This coming January will be sixteen years I've taken hydrocodone. (I hate oxycodone.)
I still take the weakest dose. Three years ago I asked my doctor if I could step up the frequency by a certain amount and she had no problem with that. Both my rheumatologist and primary care doctor say I'm not even close to over doing it. About a month ago I asked again to increase the frequency of doses.
I made it clear that I am not interested in increasing the dosage. Maybe some day that might become necessary, but I am in no hurry for that day to arrive.
I know I don't have a tolerance because I can often get relief from taking less than the prescribed dose.
I know I don't have a dependence, let alone an addiction, because I sometimes go days between doses, but then may have several days when I take small amounts. Basically my body isn't screaming for a dose.
I have a threshold test for when I think I should reach for narcotics. If I can't distract myself from the pain, and the pain is the only thing going through my mind, then I'll often start with 1/2 a dose and see if that is enough.
I have a very healthy fear of taking that stuff and told my doctor that. I know what it does to some people's lives. I may have to take more over time, but I'm in this for the long hall.
People who can't distinguish between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I cannot put into words.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Friday July 26 2024, @05:42PM
Part of the problem is legislators that think a paper cut is a 9 out of 10 on the pain scale figuring people should just tough it out.
That leads to patients being cut off rather than receiving appropriate medical treatment if they have trouble getting off of the pain pills (even if the reason is that the pain didn't go away yet). Also why known effective and less addictive treatments are banned completely because they are adjacent to something people might abuse (CBD) or because some people might abuse them for too much fun (micro doses of hallucinogenic mushrooms are known to prevent crushing migraines and cluster headaches).
Git rid of that and a lot of the problem will go away.
The new drugs might be useful too once the patent ages out and people can actually afford them.