Expectancy Modulation of Opioid Neurotransmission.

ABSTRACT: Expectancies are powerful modulators of cognitive and emotional experiences, as well as the neurobiological responses linked to these processes. In medicine, placebo effects are a clear example of how expectancies activate opioid neurotransmission in a treatment context, leading to the experience of analgesia and the improvement of emotional states, among other symptoms. Molecular neuroimaging techniques using positron emission tomography (PET) and the selective μ-opioid receptor tracer [¹¹C]carfentanil have significantly contributed to our understanding of the neurobiological systems involved in the formation of placebo effects. This line of research has described neural and neurotransmitter networks implicated in placebo effects and provided the technical tools to examine inte

SUBMITTER: Pecina M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6314670 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature