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Structural biology

How opioid drugs bind to receptors

The search for safe, non-addictive versions of morphine and other opioid drugs has just received a boost with the solving of the crystal structures of the receptors to which the drugs bind. See Articles p.321 & p.327, Letters p.395 & p.400

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Figure 1: Binding mode of opioids at their receptors.

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Correspondence to Marta Filizola or Lakshmi A. Devi.

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Filizola, M., Devi, L. How opioid drugs bind to receptors. Nature 485, 314–317 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/485314a

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