Chronic methadone treatment shows a better cost/benefit ratio than chronic morphine in mice.

Abstract excerpt

Chronic treatment of pain with opiate drugs can lead to analgesic tolerance and drug dependence. Although all opiate drugs can promote tolerance and dependence in practice, the severity of those unwanted side effects differs depending on the drug used. Although each opiate drug has its own unique set of pharmacological profiles, methadone is the only clinically used opioid drug that produces substantial receptor...

Topics

• Analgesics, Opioid
• Animals
• Area Under Curve
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Drug Tolerance
• Endocytosis
• Gene Knock-In Techniques
• Methadone
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• Mice, Transgenic