Brainstorming: The Science and Politics of Opiate Research - Hardcover

Snyder, Solomon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674080483 ISBN 13: 9780674080485

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1989

Synopsis

The discovery of how opiates such as morphine and heroin relieve pain and produce euphoria is one of the most dramatic tales of modern science. It begins in 1971 when, at the height of the undeclared war in Vietnam, Richard Nixon officially announced a war on drugs. Heroin addiction--no longer confined to urban ghettos--was causing bad public relations for the White House. The specter of young American soldiers demoralized, drugged, and committing atrocities was not the image President Nixon wished to convey as he argued for further bombings of North Vietnam.

In this book Solomon Snyder describes the political maneuverings and scientific sleuthing that led him and Candace Pert, then a graduate student in his lab, to a critical breakthrough in the effort to understand addiction. Their discovery--the so-called opiate receptor--is a structure on the surface of certain nerve cells that attracts opiates. Heroin or morphine molecules fit into opiate receptors much as a key fits into the ignition switch of a car--thus turning on the engine of the cell. Snyder and his students were able to show that nerve cells which possess opiate receptors are found in precisely those parts of the brain that control emotion and pain.

Dr. Snyder describes the friendly yet intense competition from other researchers to expand upon this initial discovery. From the work of two Scottish investigators, Hans Kosterlitz and John Hughes, neuroscientists now know not only where opiate receptors are found in the brain but also why they are there: to serve as binding sites for an opiate-like substance produced by the brain itself--the brain's own morphine. This substance, called enkephalin, regulates pain, mood, and a host of other physiological functions.

From this very human chronicle of scientific battles in the ongoing war against pain and addiction, we gain an appreciation of the extraordinary intellectual processes of an eminent scientist. But Dr. Snyder's story of scientific brainstorming also affords us rare glimpses into the fruitful, sometimes frustrating, relationships among scientists which enrich and complicate creative work. We are reminded of the delicate political alliances that are forged at every level of organization, from the lab bench to the Oval Office, as the scientific community attempts to fit its needs to those of the larger society.

About this title

About the Author

Solomon H. Snyder, Director of the Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the author of several books, is also the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Lasker Award and membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

Reviews

In response to Nixon's call for a war on drugs in 1972, Congress appropriated funds which enabled Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Snyder and Candace Pert, his graduate student, to discover the "opiate receptor." Heroin and morphine molecules fit into this nerve-cell structure the way a key fits into a car ignition. Yet the search for non-addicting opiates as a solution to drug addiction ultimately proved futile. In a modestly written account interspersed with diagrams and photographs, Snyder describes the steps that led to his noteworthy discovery. He examines chemical treatments of schizophrenia and looks at the brain's natural morphine-like mood regulator, enkephalin, whose discovery led pharmaceutical manufacturers on a costly wild-goose chase. With dry humor he discusses how the politics of science impinged on his relationships with the White House, rival labs and drug companies.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The discovery of opiate receptors (cellular structures which attract opiates) and the subsequent discovery of the brain's own opiate-like substance were two of molecular biology's major accomplishments in the early 1970s. Various minds were applied to these challenges--notably the author (director of the neuroscience lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) and his research team. Their success has provided new insight into the nature of addiction and has dramatically influenced the pharmaceutical industry. The technology developed in this endeavor has since been used to identify receptors for the major neurotransmittors in the brain. Snyder engagingly describes the serendipitous nature of discovery and the role of the mentor in science. His well-written account will be accessible to the nonprofessional science reader.
- Laurie Bartolini, Lincoln Lib., Springfield, Ill.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0674080483
• ISBN 13: 9780674080485
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 219