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
. 2014 Apr;15(4):329-32.
doi: 10.1002/embr.201338399. Epub 2014 Mar 17.

Drugs and placebos: what's the difference?: Understanding the molecular basis of the placebo effect could help clinicians to better use it in clinical practice

Fabrizio Benedetti  1
Affiliations

Drugs and placebos: what's the difference?: Understanding the molecular basis of the placebo effect could help clinicians to better use it in clinical practice

Fabrizio Benedetti. EMBO Rep. 2014 Apr.
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Two possible mechanisms of action of opioid drugs and placebos. Opioids and placebos (through the activation of endogenous ligands) may act on the very same μ receptors located in the same region of the brain or, otherwise, they may act on the same type of opioid receptors but in different regions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wager TD, Scott DJ, Zubieta JK. Placebo effects on human (micro)-opioid activity during pain. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007;104:11056–11061. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Benedetti F, Amanzio M, Rosato R, Blanchard C. Non-opioid placebo analgesia is mediated by CB1 cannabinoid receptors. Nat Med. 2011;17:1228–1230. - PubMed
    1. Benedetti F, Amanzio M, Thoen W. Disruption of opioid-induced placebo responses by activation of cholecystokinin type-2 receptors. Psychopharmacology. 2011;213:791–797. - PubMed
    1. de la Fuente-Fernandez R, Ruth TJ, Sossi V, Schulzer M, Calne DB, Stoessl AJ. Expectation and dopamine release: mechanism of the placebo effect in Parkinson's disease. Science. 2001;293:1164–1166. - PubMed
    1. Benedetti F, Colloca L, Torre E, Lanotte M, Melcarne A, Pesare M, Bergamasco B, Lopiano L. Placebo-responsive Parkinson patients show decreased activity in single neurons of subthalamic nucleus. Nat Neurosci. 2004;7:587–588. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources