The Yoburn lab focuses on the mechanism of action of opioid drugs. Our work involves studies that target understanding opioid drug action; beginning with the interaction of opioids with specific opioid receptors and culminating with functional drug effects. As with many other neurotransmitter systems, opioid receptors have dynamic properties and can be actively regulated by exposure to agonists and antagonists. Although, the potency of opioids can be affected by a number of elements in the cascade leading from receptor to effect, the properties and density of receptors can have important effects on drug potency and action. The overall focus of our lab has been the regulation of opioid receptors by opioid drugs. We have been particularly interested in how changes in receptor characteristics and the intracellular messengers coupled to receptors, as well as the proteins involved in receptor trafficking, can impact on opioid drug potency. Examining the impact of drug efficacy on changes in agonist potency and the regulation of opioid receptor density and function are recurring themes in our efforts. Throughout our studies, a systems molecular pharmacological approach is employed.