Neuropeptide FF

Where it comes from

Made in

The spinal cord dorsal horn, the brainstem’s nucleus of the solitary tract, and the hypothalamus

Sent out by

Pain and opioid exposure raise it

Acts on

• Opioid circuits of brainstem and spinal cord
• Cardiovascular centres
• Feeding circuits

What it does

• Opposes opioid analgesia in the brain and adds to it in the spinal cord ¹
• Takes part in opioid tolerance and withdrawal ³
• Raises blood pressure when given centrally, and briefly reduces food intake

In medicine

• No medicine copies it or blocks it, and it is not measured in people
• Its interest in the clinic is indirect: opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia are the problems this system is thought to help create ³

Beyond the body’s own use

• NPFF receptor blockers reduce opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia in rodents: RF9, the compound that showed it, prevented both when given with morphine ²
• Compounds that pair opioid agonism with NPFF blockade in one molecule are in early development, and none has been given to a person ³
• Nothing containing neuropeptide FF is approved or obtainable outside the laboratory. The unresolved part is direction: it opposes opioid analgesia in the brain and adds to it in the spinal cord, so a blocker taken systemically could help or hinder depending on where it reaches ¹