Natural painkiller found in human spit
New Scientist has an article about a new painkiller being developed from a substance in human saliva that is non-addictive and more powerful than morphine.
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.
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Rougeot and colleagues discovered that opiorphin works in nerve cells of the spine by stopping the usual destruction of natural pain-killing opiates there, called enkephalins.
Opiorphin is such a simple molecule that it should be possible to synthesise it and produce large quantities without having to isolate it from saliva, Rougeot explains. Alternatively, it might be possible to find drugs which trigger patients’ bodies to produce more of the molecule themselves.
The old practice of having Mommy kiss it and make it better suddenly seems more logical. Saliva’s antiseptic effects were discovered long ago of course. One question though: Aren’t the natural opiates addictive, making the new drug addictive? They’ll probably figure that out with further research.