Opioid Addiction and Opioid Receptor Dimerization: Structural Modeling of the OPRD1 and OPRM1 Heterodimer and Its Signaling Pathways.

ABSTRACT: Opioid addiction is a complex phenomenon with genetic, social, and other components. Due to such complexity, it is difficult to interpret the outcome of clinical studies, and thus, mutations found in individuals with these addictions are still not indisputably classified as opioid addiction-causing variants. Here, we computationally investigated two such mutations, A6V and N40D, found in the mu opioid receptor gene OPRM1. The mutations are located in the extracellular domain of the corresponding protein, which is important to the hetero-dimerization of OPRM1 with the delta opioid receptor protein (OPRD1). The hetero-dimerization of OPRD1-OPRM1 affects the signaling pathways activated by opioids and natural peptides and, thus, could be considered a factor contributing to addiction. I

SUBMITTER: Wu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8509015 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature