Natural-Born Painkiller Found In Human Saliva

New Scientist ^ | 11-13-2006 | Andy Coghan

[blam]

Natural-born painkiller found in human saliva

22:00 13 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers say.

The substance, dubbed opiorphin, may spawn a new generation of natural painkillers that relieve pain as well as morphine but without the addictive and psychological side effects of the traditional drug.

When the researchers injected a pain-inducing chemical into rats’ paws, 1 gram of opiorphin per kilogram of body weight achieved the same painkilling effect as 3 grams of morphine.

The substance was so successful at blocking pain that, in a test involving a platform of upended pins, the rats needed six times as much morphine as opiorphin to render them oblivious to the pain of standing on the needle points.

Anti-depressive angle

“Its pain-suppressive effect is like that of morphine,” says Catherine Rougeot at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, who led the research. “But we have to test its side effects as it is not a pure painkiller,” she says. “It may also be an anti-depressive molecule.”

[Socratic]

When I was in college and had my own lab rat (Rat Fink), I was surprised to learn that Purina made "Purina Rat Chow." I learned something new every semester.

[T'wit]

>> Now, I think my dogs have antibiotic in their saliva.

I think so too, no spoof, and was just about to write to say so, but noticed you got there first. If not an antibiotic, SOMETHING that heals. A friend's dad pointed it out when we were kids. My family didn't have a dog so I thought that was neat.

[uglybiker]

So this is why mommies kiss boo boos!

C'mere and let mommy kiss your boo boo!

[uglybiker]

I've noticed you've been rather pale. Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately?

[GOP Poet]

How comforting to know for us Republicans who are licking our wounds after the midterm elections.

LOL! That was great :-).

[tet68]

I hate depressed molecules, they're no fun, and all they want to talk about is their monotonous neighbors and how they all live so close.

[GOP Poet]

C'mere and let mommy kiss your boo boo!

OUCH! My eyes hurt now; spit, spit, rub, rub. There. Now all better. Oh no there she is again . . . ARRRRGH!!!! Blinded.

[annie laurie]

Ping

[El Gato]

I see, so when the hippies were screaming "Baby Killer" and spitting on our returning troops from Nam, they weren't trying to humiliate them, they were trying to take away their pain.... awe... how kind of them.

Yeh, sure, as if they knew. And when they were throwing sack of feces at them... they were just trying to remind them of their dog back home. Riiight. :)

[GretchenM]

hmmmm ....

[Post-Neolithic]

Here is the abstract from the original source for you more Scientific types,

Mammalian zinc ectopeptidases play important roles in turning off neural and hormonal peptide signals at the cell surface, notably those processing sensory information.

We report here the discovery of a previously uncharacterized physiological inhibitor of enkephalin-inactivating zinc ectopeptidases in humans, which we have named Opiorphin.

It is a QRFSR peptide that inhibits two enkephalin-catabolizing ectoenzymes, human neutral ecto-endopeptidase, hNEP (EC 3.4.24.11), and human ecto-aminopeptidase, hAP-N (EC 3.4.11.2).

Opiorphin displays potent analgesic activity in chemical and mechanical pain models by activating endogenous opioid-dependent transmission. Its function is closely related to the rat sialorphin peptide, which is an inhibitor of pain perception and acts by potentiating endogenous µ- and {delta}-opioid receptor-dependent enkephalinergic pathways.

Here we demonstrate the functional specificity in vivo of human Opiorphin. The pain-suppressive potency of Opiorphin is as effective as morphine in the behavioral rat model of acute mechanical pain, the pin-pain test.

Thus, our discovery of Opiorphin is extremely exciting from a physiological point of view in the context of endogenous opioidergic pathways, notably in modulating mood-related states and pain sensation.

Furthermore, because of its in vivo properties, Opiorphin may have therapeutic implications.

[El Gato]

So this is why mommies kiss boo boos!

Could be. It seems to be one of the few instinctive behaviors humans have. (Flirting behaviors are pretty universal across cultures too).

My Mom always complained, an admiring sort of complaint, that Dad never got seriously hurt or sick. When he'd get a cut or abrasion, he'd just stick it in his mouth or lick it, then leave it alone. He never got gangrene or tetanus or anything like that. Until the cancer, the only time he was in the hospital was when he got a piece of metal in his eye, at least I think he spent some time in the hospital with that, it was before my time. Once the dang doctors diagnosed the colon cancer, it only runs in his family and the symptoms were pretty obvious, he beat that too, with surgery and a little chemo. He lived over 10 years after that. Then the Alzheimer's kicked in... that runs in the family too. Pneumonia in the "home" finally got him, mercifully after only three weeks in that place that he hated.

[Dick Vomer]

I found the saliva delivery system....

[Fudd Fan]

Double-hmmmmmmmmm....

Thanks for the *ping*!

[johnny7]

HOCCCCCCCCC!