New Opioid Receptor Modulators and Agonists: Relevance for Pain and Opioid Use Disorder Management | Ch 6
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
9-26-2025
Editor
Scott Edwards et al
Abstract
The analgesic efficacy of opioids is well known, and opioids represent a crucial medication strategy for the treatment of specific pain conditions. However, opioids were until very recently overprescribed for multiple chronic pain conditions, leading to the emergence of several clinical risks. Excessive use of opioids leads not only to analgesic tolerance, but the emergence of a paradoxical hyperalgesia, or exaggerated nociceptive signaling. Opioid misuse may also facilitate the development or progression of opioid use disorder (OUD) in vulnerable individuals. From a psychological perspective, chronic and unrelieved pain is intimately associated with negative affect, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia may constitute a specific condition closely associated with the transition to OUD through facilitation of negative reinforcement processes. Recent insights into the neurobiological mechanisms that promote the analgesic versus pain-facilitating properties of opioids have provided a unique conceptual basis for OUD, and current preclinical and translational work is dedicated to the discovery of safer alternatives to opioid analgesia as well as more effective therapeutic strategies that might simultaneously combat chronic pain and OUD.
First Page
51
Last Page
61
Chapter Title
Chapter 6 - The balance of pain treatment and pain facilitation by opioids: Relevance for opioid use disorder risk
Publisher
Academic Press
ISBN
[9780443265051, 9780443265044]
Rights
Copyright © 2026 Elsevier Inc.
Recommended Citation
Brouillette, Amy and Edwards, Scott, "New Opioid Receptor Modulators and Agonists: Relevance for Pain and Opioid Use Disorder Management | Ch 6" (2025). School of Medicine Faculty Publications. 4336.
https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/som_facpubs/4336
10.1016/B978-0-443-26504-4.00018-1