Internal medicine

Neuroscience

Receptor

Depression (economics)

Pathogenesis

Endogenous opioid

Central nervous system

Biology

Opioid peptide

Macroeconomics

Economics

Endogeny

Lateral parabrachial nucleus

Opioid

Parabrachial Nucleus

Respiratory system

Medicine

Pharmacology

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD) is the direct cause of death from opioid overdose, which accounts for the current global opioid crisis. Here, we report that neurons expressing the μ-opioid receptors in the lateral parabrachial nucleus of the pontine respiratory group are necessary and sufficient for the pathogenesis of OIRD. Activating these neurons through endogenous or artificial G protein–coupled receptor signaling pathways rescues OIRD in intact mice, suggesting its therapeutic utility in OIRD patients.

Neural basis of opioid-induced respiratory depression and its rescue