Opioid antagonist

An opioid antagonist, or opioid receptor antagonist, is a receptor antagonist that acts on one or more of the opioid receptors.

Naloxone and naltrexone are commonly used opioid antagonist drugs which are competitive antagonists that bind to the opioid receptors with higher affinity than agonists but do not activate the receptors. This effectively blocks the receptor, preventing the body from responding to opioids and endorphins.

Some opioid antagonists are not pure antagonists but in fact do produce some weak opioid partial agonist effects, and can produce analgesic effects when administered in high doses to opioid-naive individuals. Examples of such compounds include nalorphine and levallorphan. However, the analgesic effects from these specific drugs are limited and tend to be accompanied by dysphoria, most likely due to additional agonist action at the κ-opioid receptor. As they induce opioid withdrawal effects in people who are taking, or have recently used, opioid full agonists, these drugs are considered to be antagonists for practical purposes.

The weak partial agonist effect can be useful for some purposes, and has previously been used for purposes such as long-term maintenance of former opioid addicts using nalorphine, however it can also have disadvantages such as worsening respiratory depression in patients who have overdosed on non-opioid sedatives such as alcohol or barbiturates. Naloxone on the other hand has no partial agonist effects, and is in fact a partial inverse agonist at μ-opioid receptors, and so is the preferred antidote drug for treating opioid overdose.

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