A new opioid has been identified by researchers to be effective in terms of acting like a pain killer but without any side effects. An array of medical procedures has become possible to be performed by doctors only because of the use of opioid painkillers that successfully urge pain in the process of recovery.

However, these drugs have severe health implications since they restrain breathing and are extremely addictive. Morphine has been the most extensively used drug, along with other medications like oxycodone, codeine and fentanyl. These opioid drugs form a connection with the mu opioid receptor in the brain and subsequently eliminate pain by exploiting a chemical pathway. But, these drugs also activate a second pathway that suppresses respiration.

However, scientists from Stanford, the University of California San Francisco, the University of North Carolina and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg came together for evaluating over 2,500 compounds that were deemed capable of connecting with opioid receptors. They were eventually able to detect one compound that despite activating chemical pathways associated with killing pain, did not have an impact on those that restrain breathing.

“The field had wondered whether a small molecule with just the right chemical features to trip off one pathway, but not the other, could be designed”, said a researcher at Stanford University, Dr. AashishManglik. With a bit of modification, the compound’s capability to bind with receptors improved by approximately 1,000 times. The compound was also found not to stimulate addictive behavior.

The experiments for PZM21 compound were performed on mice and it turned out to be as strong as morphine in killing pain, without any implications of affecting the breathing ability of mice. In addition, on being given an option to chose between two solutions, one with and one without the compound, the rodent did not display any inclination.

According to a report in UPI by Stephen Feller, "Researchers at four universities designed a compound that successfully killed pain while appearing not to suppress breathing or induce addictive behavior in mice, suggesting it has potential for safer use with humans, according to a study published in the journal Nature."

"The field had wondered whether a small molecule with just the right chemical features to trip off one pathway, but not the other, could be designed," Dr. Aashish Manglik, a researcher at Stanford University, said in a press release.

In tests with mice, PZM21 was found to be as powerful as morphine at eliminating pain while not interfering with the rodents' ability to breathe. Just as significant, when mice were offered a choice of solution with or without the drug, they appeared to show no preference -- unlike morphine, which rodents overwhelmingly pick if available.

A report published in Insurance Journal informed, "U.S. and German researchers have developed a pain-relieving compound, chemically unrelated to current opioids, that doesn’t interfere with breathing—the main cause of prescription painkiller fatalities. The researchers introduced the compound, called PZM21, in a study published on Wednesday in Nature."

The new molecule targets the brain-mediated emotional component of pain. This allows it to kill pain just as well as morphine does, without the side effects of respiratory suppression and dopamine-driven addiction in the brain. (Regular painkillers target both the brain-mediated and reflexive response aspects of pain.)

The new compound was identified using 2012 findings by Manglik and others in the lab of Brian Kobilka, a Stanford professor of molecular and cellular physiology and a Nobel Laureate. (Kobilka was a co-senior author of the new paper.) In the earlier research, scientists described the atomic structure of the mu opioid receptor, through which painkillers such as morphine act.