• Claire Gavériaux-Ruff and Brigitte Lina Kieffer.
• Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Illkirch, France. gaveriau@igbmc.fr
• Behav Pharmacol. 2011 Sep 1; 22 (5-6): 405-14.

AbstractDelta opioid receptors represent a promising target for the development of novel analgesics. A number of tools have been developed recently that have significantly improved our knowledge of δ receptor function in pain control. These include several novel δ agonists with potent analgesic properties, and genetic mouse models with targeted mutations in the δ opioid receptor gene. Also, recent findings have further documented the regulation of δ receptor function at cellular level, which impacts on the pain-reducing activity of the receptor. These regulatory mechanisms occur at transcriptional and post-translational levels, along agonist-induced receptor activation, signaling and trafficking, or in interaction with other receptors and neuromodulatory systems. All these tools for in-vivo research, and proposed mechanisms at molecular level, have tremendously increased our understanding of δ receptor physiology, and contribute to designing innovative strategies for the treatment of chronic pain and other diseases such as mood disorders.

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