New research from UNE offers hope for pain management without opioid side effects
Scientists at the University of New England have discovered a promising approach to pain treatment that could reduce reliance on traditional opioid medications.
Glenn Stevenson, Ph.D., professor of psychology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is the lead researcher on a paper showing that activation of the dopamine D1 receptor can enhance opioid-induced pain relief but also reduce opioid-induced side effects, providing a new biological drug target for pain medicine.
The paper, “D1 Dopamine / Mu Opioid Receptor Interactions in Operant Conditioning Assays of Pain-depressed Responding and Drug-induced Rate Suppression, and a Conditioned Place Preference Procedure: Assessment of Therapeutic Index in Male Sprague Dawley Rats,” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology on Jan. 20.
The research paper examines the utility of exploiting neurotransmitter receptor interactions with the goal of enhancing or maintaining pain relief and reducing opioid-induced side effects.
According to Stevenson, this is the first publication to assess how dopamine D1-receptor experimental drugs can act as opioid-sparing agents, an exciting finding for the pain research community as the D1 receptor now provides an additional receptor system target for drug development to treat pain.
The study indicated that dopamine D1/mu opioid mixtures show enhanced effectiveness in blocking pain-depressed behaviors while also showing decreased sedation and reduced drug addiction potential relative to individual compounds alone.
It was co-authored by seven current or former UNE students as well as Denise Giuvelis, B.S. ’08 (Medical Biology), manager of the UNE Behavior Core, and Tamara King, Ph.D., professor of physiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences within UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
At the University of New England, 46% of undergraduates engage in research activities outside of the classroom — over twice the national average. The first author on the article is UNE former student Hannah LaCourse, B.S. ’23 (Medical Biology), followed by Lily Bennett, (Pre-Pharmacy, ’25); Francesca Asmus, B.S. ’22 (Neuroscience); Meghan Smith, B.A. ’23 (Psychology); Ravin Davis, B.S. ’21, (D.O., ’25); and Kylee Harrington, B.S. ’21 (Neuroscience).
“I am so proud of my students past and present and feel privileged to have played a small part in their university life and education,” Stevenson said, noting that he will transition from lab research to writing his first book. “This is another example of high-quality, tier-one research that our UNE undergraduate students are engaged in every day alongside faculty mentors. These student co-authorships help to secure post-graduate positions for our students.”
The study was supported by a National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (NIH COBRE) grant and a UNE Behavioral Core grant.