{
  "id": 28285,
  "title": "Acute opioid responses are modulated by dynamic interactions of <i>Oprm1</i> and <i>Fgf12</i>",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/29/acute-opioid-responses-are-modulated-by-dynamic-interactions-of-i",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "eLife",
    "slug": "elife",
    "url": "https://elifesciences.org/articles/108845"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers have uncovered the complex interplay between two genes, Oprm1 and Fgf12, in modulating the body's response to acute opioid injections, such as morphine. Their study involved analyzing time-series data from 105 mice, representing 64 diverse strains, after a single morphine injection. By mapping variations in locomotor responses, they discovered that the Oprm1 gene, located on chromosome 10, played a significant role, with the B allele from C57BL/6J strain associated with up to 60% higher activity. This effect peaked at 75 minutes but subsided by 160 minutes. A second major modulator, Fgf12, located on chromosome 16, emerged after about 100 minutes. The interaction between Oprm1 and Fgf12 displayed a transient epistatic relationship during a short window (45–75 minutes), suggesting a potential mechanism for modulating drug response in mammals. Furthermore, the researchers found co-expression of Oprm1 and Fgf12 in a specific subtype of Drd1 + medium spiny neurons in rats. The findings were supported by a Bayesian network analysis, which revealed a MAP kinase cascade network involving FGF12 phosphorylation, contributing to locomotor activation. Importantly, these networks were also found to be enriched in human genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, linking them to substance use disorders. This study marks the first demonstration of a time-dependent epistatic interaction in modulating drug response in mammals and the first linkage of Fgf12 to opioid-induced behavior.",
  "summary": "We generated time-series data for 105 morphine- and naloxone-related traits across ~700 BXD mice (64 diverse strains for both sexes) for 3 hr after a single morphine injection. Variations in responses were mapped using genome sequencing-based genotypes. The locomotor responses to morphine mapped to the µ opioid receptor gene ( Oprm1 ) on chromosome (Chr) 10 with a peak linkage of 12.4 (–logp).…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/28285.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}