MT-7716 explained

MT-7716 is an experimental opioid drug that could potentially be used in the treatment of alcohol addiction.

Mechanism of action

Unlike most opioids, MT-7716 does not appear to act through delta, kappa and mu opioid receptors, but instead is an agonist of the nociceptin receptor.^[1]

Alcohol addiction

A study has shown that MT-7716 was able to decrease alcohol self-administration and reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms in rats.^[2]

Another study was also able to show similar results, in addition to demonstrating MT-7716's ability to suppress stress-induced alcohol seeking.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Kallupi . Marsida . Oleata . Christopher S. . Luu . George . Teshima . Koji . Ciccocioppo . Roberto . Roberto . Marisa . 2014 . MT-7716, a novel selective nonpeptidergic NOP receptor agonist, effectively blocks ethanol-induced increase in GABAergic transmission in the rat central amygdala . Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience . 8 . 18 . 10.3389/fnint.2014.00018 . free . 1662-5145 . 3927450 . 24600360.
2. Ciccocioppo . Roberto . Stopponi . Serena . Economidou . Daina . Kuriyama . Makoto . Kinoshita . Hiroshi . Heilig . Markus . Roberto . Marisa . Weiss . Friedbert . Teshima . Koji . April 2014 . Chronic treatment with novel brain-penetrating selective NOP receptor agonist MT-7716 reduces alcohol drinking and seeking in the rat . Neuropsychopharmacology. 39 . 11 . 2601–2610 . 10.1038/npp.2014.113 . 1740-634X . 4207340 . 24863033.
3. de Guglielmo . Giordano . Martin-Fardon . Rémi . Teshima . Koji . Ciccocioppo . Roberto . Weiss . Friedbert . July 2015 . MT-7716, a potent NOP receptor agonist, preferentially reduces ethanol seeking and reinforcement in post-dependent rats . Addiction Biology . 20 . 4 . 643–651 . 10.1111/adb.12157 . 1355-6215 . 4268094 . 24930632.