ENDOGENOUS MORPHINE

This review surveys the discovery of endogenous alkaloids in mammals. The formation of morphine in mammalian brain was assumed in 1970. The existence of morphine was demonstrated by radioimmunoassay. Identifica tion of morphine was performed by spectroscopic methods. The isolation of mammalian morphine raises the question of biosynthesis. Recently, it has been shown that the biosynthetic pathway is similar to that tha t exists in poppy. (C) 1995 The Italian Pharmacological Society