Researchers from Irvine’s School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California have yielded encouraging results when studying how Corydalis yanhusuo plant extract effects opiate addiction and morphine addiction. The initial studies in animals found that when the plant extract was coadministered with morphine, it can inhibit morphine tolerance, dependence, and addiction, as well as reversing dependence completely.
It does so by inhibiting the dopamine D2 receptor, which consequently may help in managing addiction. As a consequence, researchers hope that their findings could one day help to treat and prevent opiate addiction and morphine addiction.
“It is critical that we decrease the use and abuse of opiates. To help achieve this goal, we are proposing the use of this therapeutic plant. When used in animals, the Corydalis extract prevents pain and the negative effects of opiate use. The next step would be to test it with humans,” says Olivier Civelli, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California and corresponding author of the paper.
The next step would now be to test with humans, and see if similar results are seen. If so, then this discovery could open a new window for the treatment of opiate addiction.