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Science 28 August 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4511, pp. 1010 - 1012
DOI: 10.1126/science.6267691
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Articles

Science, Vol 213, Issue 4511, 1010-1012
Copyright © 1981 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Morphine in cow and human milk: could dietary morphine constitute a ligand for specific morphine (mu) receptors?

E Hazum, JJ Sabatka, KJ Chang, DA Brent, JW Findlay, and P Cuatrecasas

Morphine has been found in cow and human milk at concentrations of 200 to 500 nanograms per liter. Multistep purification yields a material that has immunological, biological, pharmacological, and chemical properties identical to those of morphine. Similar morphine-like material, which has been tentatively identified in some common plant sources, may be a ubiquitous dietary constituent and a possible source for the material in milk. Since morphine (mu) receptors have a low affinity for enkephalins, and since morphine-like materials have been described in brain and intestine, it is possible that morphine in food may be the source of this material and a normal ligand specific for mu receptors.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
How human neuroblastoma cells make morphine.
C. Boettcher, M. Fellermeier, C. Boettcher, B. Drager, and M. H. Zenk (2005)
PNAS 102, 8495-8500
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Endogenous formation of morphine in human cells.
C. Poeaknapo, J. Schmidt, M. Brandsch, B. Drager, and M. H. Zenk (2004)
PNAS 101, 14091-14096
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