Morphine-element interactions – The influence of selected chemical elements on neural pathways associated with addiction

[Display omitted] •Addiction is a pressing social problem worldwide.•Opioid dependence is the strongest and difficult addiction to treat.•Elements influence neuronal pathways associated with addiction.•This paper focused on molecular links between elements and morphine activity.•This paper shows a novel view on the pathomechanism of morphine addiction. Addiction is a pressing social problem worldwide and opioid dependence can be considered the strongest and most difficult addiction to treat. Mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways play an important role in modulation of cognitive processes and decision making and, therefore, changes in dopamine metabolism are considered the central basis for the development of dependence. Disturbances caused by excesses or deficiency of certain elements have a significant impact on the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS) both in physiological conditions and in pathology and can affect the cerebral reward system and therefore, may modulate processes associated with the development of addiction. In this paper we review the mechanisms of interactions between morphine and zinc, manganese, chromium, cadmium, lead, fluoride, their impact on neural pathways associated with addiction, and on antinociception and morphine tolerance and dependence.