The Life Cycle of the Mu-Opioid Receptor

SNPs of OPRM1, resulting in amino acid changes in the protein sequence (e.g., N40D), may have effects in pain and reward processing. Epigenetic changes, as well as positive and negative transcription factors, are key controllers of receptor expression. Alternative splicing generates over 20 different isoforms of mu-opioid receptor (MOR) with distinct pharmacological characteristics; these include isoforms with 7-TM, 6-TM, and 1-TM. MicroRNAs...