Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012 Mar;27(1):1-5.
doi: 10.1007/s11011-011-9274-6. Epub 2011 Dec 24.

Morphine metabolism, transport and brain disposition

Simona De Gregori  1 , Manuela De Gregori, Guglielmina Nadia Ranzani, Massimo Allegri, Cristina Minella, Mario Regazzi
Affiliations
Review

Morphine metabolism, transport and brain disposition

Simona De Gregori et al. Metab Brain Dis. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

The chemical structures of morphine and its metabolites are closely related to the clinical effects of drugs (analgesia and side-effects) and to their capability to cross the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). Morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) and Morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G) are both highly hydrophilic, but only M6G can penetrate the BBB; accordingly, M6G is considered a more attractive analgesic than the parent drug and the M3G. Several hypotheses have been made to explain these differences. In this review we will discuss recent advances in the field, considering brain disposition of M6G, UDP-glucoronosyltransferases (UGT) involved in morphine metabolism, UGT interindividual variability and transport proteins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Morphine-3- and morphine-6-glucuronidation by UGT2B7
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Allegri M, De Gregori M, Niebel T, et al. Pharmacogenetics and postoperative pain: a new approach to improve acute pain management. Minerva Anestesiol. 2010;76(11):937–44. - PubMed
    1. Bourasset F, Cisternino S, Temsamani J, Scherrmann JM. Evidence for an active transport of morphine-6-β-D-glucuronide but not P-glycoprotein-mediated at the blood-brain barrier. J Neurochem. 2003;86:1564–1567. doi: 10.1046/j.1471-4159.2003.01990.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bouw MR, Tunblad K, Hammarlund-Udenaes M. Blood Brain Barrier transport and brain distribution of morphine-6-glucuronide in relation to the antinociceptive effect in rats – pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling. Br J Pharmacol. 2001;134:1796–1804. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0704406. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Campa D, Gioia A, Tomei A, et al. Association of ABCB1/MDR1 and OPRM1 gene polymorphisms with morphine pain relief. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2008;83:559–566. doi: 10.1038/sj.clpt.6100385. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carrupt PA, Testa B, Bechalany A, et al. Morphine 6-Glucuronide and Morphine 3-Glucuronide as molecular chameleons with unexpected lipophilicity. J Med Chem. 1991;34:1272–1275. doi: 10.1021/jm00108a005. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources