March 28, 2024
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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
U of A lab receives funding to help prevent opioid addiction in chronic pain patients

March 15, 2019

The microbiome of the human gut - the ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes that thrive within it has become the latest frontier of research into a list of ailments that range from allergies to mental illness.


Pharmacologist Anna Taylor (pictured in her lab while it was under construction when she came to the U of A in 2017 as a new assistant professor) was one of 16 researchers whose projects were funded by new CFI grants. (Photo: Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry)
 

A University of Alberta pharmacology lab has shown how the microbiome changes with the use of opioids, which may hold the promise of helping experts combat opioid addiction more effectively.

"We have shown that both opioids and chronic pain change the microbiome, and in fact, those changes to the gut bacteria that begin to thrive in the guts during chronic pain are at least causally related to some of the pain symptoms," said Anna Taylor, a pharmacology researcher.

She explained her lab is looking at strategies to manipulate or restore the gut microbiome to normal to find alternative ways to treat pain, either in chronic pain or during opioid withdrawal, that doesn't involve an opioid.

"A therapy to restore the gut microbiome for a treatment for either chronic pain or addiction is very exciting, and we have preliminary data that suggest it might be beneficial," said Taylor.

This project and a host of others looking at the intersection between chronic pain and opioid addiction have resulted in a $156,000 grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) to update Taylor's Pain and Addiction Laboratory.

It was one of 16 U of A projects that shared funding of more than $3 million announced today by the federal government, which is supporting 186 projects across Canada with $42 million. Each project also received or is supported by matching provincial funds.

Taylor explained that chronic pain patients are often prescribed large amounts of opioids, usually for long periods of time.

"The use of opioids in chronic, non-cancer pain is controversial," she said. "We are living in an opioid epidemic, so there is a worry that we're generating opioid addicts within the chronic pain patient population."

In understanding whether chronic pain changes the way opioids are felt or even how the brain reacts to chronic pain, Taylor noted it is her goal to find a way to improve the analgesic efficacy of opioids.

"We might be able to make opioids work better at managing chronic pain and we might be able to diminish some of the negative side-effects associated with opioids, such as withdrawal and tolerance," she said.

Her lab's research also applies to opioid addiction. She said relapse rates among people who suffer from opioid addiction hover at 80 to 90 per cent.

"Part of that is because withdrawal is associated with increased pain and dysphoria, which are the same symptoms found in chronic pain," said Taylor. "If we can improve the symptoms and the processes associated with opioid withdrawal, and make people better when they are going through this withdrawal period, we might be able to improve abstinence rates amongst those suffering from opioid addiction."

U of A recipients

For more information

University of Alberta
116 St. and 85 Ave.
Edmonton Alberta
Canada T6G 2R3
www.ualberta.ca


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