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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Stevenson, Streicher and Bilsky laboratories publish research article on experimental opioid drug

Glenn Stevenson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, in collaboration with John Streicher, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ed Bilsky, Ph.D., vice president for Research and Scholarship, and medicinal chemist Robin Polt, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona, recently published an original research paper on the in vivo and in vitro pharmacology of a novel mixed-action delta/mu opioid receptor drug, MMP-2200 in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior.

The research project was performed by a number of current and former Stevenson laboratory undergraduates from the College of Arts and Sciences, including Amy Luginbuhl ‘11, Julio Dutra ‘11, Catherine Dunbar ‘11, Brooke Bell ‘12, Phillip Atherton ‘15 and Katherine Cone ’15, as well as Justin LaVigne ’13,  formerly of Streicher’s lab. Several of the CAS alumni are currently attending graduate school or working in nursing, or biomedical research laboratories.

MMP-2200 showed a reduction in some of the markers of opioid tolerance and drug abuse, indicating the potential for this drug to be developed as a new analgesic for human use. The project investigated some of the potential mechanisms behind this improvement, with implications for how the drug could be developed in the future.

Full Citation

Stevenson GW, Luginbuhl A, Dunbar C, LaVigne J, Dutra J, Atherton A, Bell B, Cone K, Giuvelis D, Polt R, Streicher JM, Bilsky EJ (2015). The mixed-action delta/mu opioid agonist MMP-2200 does not produce conditioned place preference but does maintain drug self-administration in rats, and induces in vitro markers of tolerance and dependence. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior. 132: 49-55.

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