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Human saliva as a painkiller: The human body spontaneously produces a novel painkiller that has been found to be up to six times more effective than morphine in tests on rats. Natural painkillers are extremely uncommon, so experts are hopeful that this recent discovery could be used as a medicinal remedy.
An organic chemical substance called opiorphin was initially discovered in human saliva. The substance appears to have a painkilling effect that is superior to morphine, according to an early study on rats. It functions by preventing the spinal cord’s endogenous opioids, enkephalins, from breaking down normally. It is a reasonably straightforward molecule made up of a polypeptide with five amino acids. Continue reading to know more!
According to Catherine Rougeot of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues who report the discovery in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the substance, known as opiorphin, appears to function by extending the body’s inherent defences against pain. It accomplishes this by blocking the degradation of substances known as enkephalins, which when activated, cause opiate receptors to block the transmission of pain signals to the brain.
Rougeot’s team discovered the novel substance after discovering sialorphin, a related natural analgesic, in rats. They pondered whether humans would make something comparable and discovered opiorphin while analysing saliva samples.
This is the first natural painkiller discovered in humans that uses this method. However, Alistair Corbett, an expert on opioids at Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK, doubts that opiorphin often plays a pain-relieving role in the body. According to him, the material might generally prevent bodily molecules from being broken down.
Pain that is brought on by both chemical and physical reasons appears to be treated by opiorphin. It caused less painful reactions in rats after they had a painful injection, such as licking the injected paw. Rougeot and her associates say that it also lessened the rats’ severe pain when they walked across a surface coated in pins.
With limited success, scientists have previously attempted to create synthetic molecules that would serve the same purpose as enkephalin protection. Roguet claims that a good therapeutic target for this enzyme would be inhibition and that no one has searched for a natural inhibitor.
However, Sandy McKnight, a former associate director at the Cambridge, UK-based Parke-Davis Neuroscience Research Centre, issues a warning: ‘The region has previously undergone extensive research. Despite this endeavour, no such medicine has yet made it to a clinical trial, thus it seems unlikely that learning more about opiorphin will prompt scientists to step up their efforts.’
He continues that it is doubtful that a drug like opiorphin is precise enough to prevent just the breakdown of enkephalins. This implies that the substance may have unintended adverse effects.
Natural painkillers may help patients avoid some of the negative side effects associated with using synthetic drugs like morphine, such as addiction and tolerance over time. But scientists caution that before it can be determined whether the new compound will be a useful medication, it must first be evaluated.
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