Abstract
Exogenous Opioids such as morphine exert powerful physiological effects, including analgesia and respiratory depression. These effects exhibit marked inter-individual differences, however. In addition to the well-documented effects of age/development and genetic background, the contribution of sex and hormonal status as a factor in Opioid potency is becoming increasingly appreciated. Progress in this area has been slow, perhaps since most studies on the analgesic and respiratory effects of Opioids utilize male subjects to avoid the need to control for estrous/menstrual status. Additionally, sex differences in opioid analgesia have been reported by some to be either negligible or absent. This may reflect differences in the methodology-species, strain and age of the animals, particular nociceptive assay employed and its parameters-employed by each laboratory. Nonetheless, findings from an increasing number of studies directly examining the issue of sex and hormonal status in the potency of Opioids demonstrate that sex and hormonal factors need to be considered if opioid drugs are to be used in the most efficacious manner possible.
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Kest, B., Sarton, E., Mogil, J.S., Dahan, A. (1998). Opioid-induced analgesia and respiratory depression: Sex differences. In: Dahan, A., Teppema, L., van Beek, J.H.G.M. (eds) Physiology And Pharmacology of Cardio-Respiratory Control. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5129-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5129-0_14
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